World Food Day 2019: What is it?

Image source, Getty Images

Image caption, The 16 October is a day dedicated to raising awareness about global hunger

World Food Day took place on Thursday 17 October - it's a day dedicated to tackling global hunger.

The United Nations (UN) believes that food is a basic human right that all people should have easy access to.

However, over 820 million people - which is about around one in nine - are currently going hungry according to the organisation.

Each year, people across the world are encouraged to come together to think about how they can bring an end to worldwide hunger. Events take place in over 150 countries which help promote worldwide awareness of the issue.

Video caption, Dr Radha's guide to a healthy diet

This year, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) is focusing on the importance of healthy diets in tackling global hunger.

Like those with limited access to food, people with poor diets can also suffer from malnutrition. The FAO says that unhealthy diets are now one of the leading risk factors linked to disease and death worldwide.

The organisation has highlighted an urgent need to ensure healthy and sustainable diets are both affordable and accessible to all.

In recent decades, we have moved from plant-based and fibre-rich diets to ones which include lots of sugar, fats, salt and processed food. There are also many who are unable to access more healthy and nutritious options.

What can be done to tackle global hunger?

The FAO has come up with a number of things we can all do to tackle issues surrounding hunger. These include:

  • Increasing the amounts of fruit, veg, nuts, legumes (e.g. chickpeas, kidney beans) and whole grains we eat
  • Limiting the amount of food and drink we have which are high in refined sugars, saturated fats and/or salt
  • Thinking about how what we eat impacts the environment
  • Reducing the amount of convenience food we eat and opting for more diverse and traditional foods instead
  • Learning more about local and seasonal foods, how to cook them and their nutritional value

Are you doing anything to support World Food Day? Let us know in the comments!