The Asia-Pacific region has a poor track record when it comes to preventing foodborne illnesses, resulting in the deaths of 225,000 people each year, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said today, during an event marking the first World Food Safety Day.
“Worldwide, each year, unsafe food or water kill more people than HIV, AIDS, malaria and measles combined, and it’s now time that everyone takes this issue more seriously,” said Kundhavi Kadiresan, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific. “In so many cases the deaths and illnesses associated with consuming unsafe food were needless and could have been prevented.”
Globally, some 600 million cases of foodborne illnesses occur annually and 420,000 people, including 30 percent of them children below the age of five, die each year as a result of these illnesses. In the Asia-Pacific region, more than 275 million people fall ill due to foodborne causes each year.
While this is clearly a public health issue, foodborne illnesses also result in lost productivity, damage livelihoods and hinder progress to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal of Zero Hunger by 2030.
The food safety picture in Asia and the Pacific
While there are various ways that food can become contaminated, in the Asia-Pacific region poor hygiene and mishandling are among the main culprits. So too is exposure to the elements such as of street food and fresh produce that is left out for hours in open air markets and in hot climates. Undercooking of food and lack of proper refrigeration also contribute to food that becomes unfit to eat.
Improving hygiene practices in the food and agricultural sectors helps to reduce the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance along the food chain and in the environment. Investment in consumer food safety education has the potential to reduce foodborne disease and return savings of up to ten-fold for each dollar invested.
Improvements to food safety on the radar screens of most countries
Calls to improve food safety in the Asia-Pacific region are increasing, primarily by governments who view this as both a public health issue and a hindrance to international trade in agricultural products. In economic terms, the World Bank estimates that, globally, each year unsafe food causes losses of USD 95 billion in low-and middle-income countries alone.
“Food safety needs to be incorporated at every stage across the food chain and there is tremendous scope to incorporate good practices and standards in all sectors of food and agriculture. Our member countries are increasingly asking us to give more guidance on improving national food control systems and food safety tools to be applied to both their domestic and international markets,” Kadiresan said. “FAO and the World Health Organization (WHO) jointly maintain the Codex Alimentarius system of food standards including key guidelines and codes of practices which is a valuable resource freely available to all countries.”
A call to action – Everyone’s responsibility and everyone’s business
To improve health, well-being and food security, FAO’s Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific today sponsored an event to mark the first World Food Safety Day, with the theme that food safety is everyone’s responsibilityand everyone’s business. Government authorities must ensure a transparent regulatory framework and its fair enforcement. The private sector’s responsibility is to implement food safety measures and management systems that ensure safe food for all. It is the duty of consumers to be vigilant and increase their awareness about good practices at home and at the workplace including schools.
The objective of World Food Safety Day is to raise awareness that consequences of unsafe food consumption on human health is extremely serious with basic microbiological contaminations which are usually neglected – undercooked food, cross-contamination and non-hygienic handling are the main killers. In other words, these illnesses occur needlessly and everyone can play a significant role to prevent them happening.
World Food Safety Day is also an opportunity to better understand how to help prevent, detect and manage foodborne risks. Participants and guests were shown examples of improvements to food handling and how to achieve greater awareness of everyone along the value chain, from the farm and the fishing boat, to the market and finally the consumer.
Approximately 7 million people worldwide die prematurely each year from air pollution, with about 4 million of these deaths occurring in Asia-Pacific. World Environment Day 2019 will urge governments, industry, communities, and individuals to come together to explore renewable energy and green technologies, and improve air quality in cities and regions across the world.
Air Pollution facts:
92 per cent of people worldwide do not breathe clean air
Air pollution costs the global economy $5 trillion every year in welfare costs
Ground-level ozone pollution is expected to reduce staple crop yields by 26 per cent by 2030
Speaker: Deki Choden
Deki Choden is the founder of Early Learning Centre Primary School and Educating for Lifelong Citizenship High School. She was one of the first women lecturers at Sherubtse College and has served as a teacher and principal for over 30 years. She is a proponent of “EduCARING for Universal Happiness” – the belief that educating the heart is as important as educating the mind to realize the vision of Gross National Happiness in education.
Host: Dr Karma Phuntsho
The Founder and President of Loden Foundation, a development organization that promotes education, social entrepreneurship and Bhutan’s culture and tradition as well as the Shejun Agency for Bhutan’s Cultural Documentation and Research.
Date: Thursday 13 June 2019
Venue: UN House, Kawajangsa, Thimphu
Time: 4:00 pm to 5:30 pm
ADD ON SESSION by Tshering Cigay Dorji, CEO of Thimphu TechPark
Topic: How to Improve Productivity & Prevent Distraction/ Addiction with Your Smart Phone
Tshering Cigay Dorji is the Chief Executive Officer of Thimphu TechPark, Bhutan first IT Park. With his deep passion for technology and youth entrepreneurship, he has been instrumented in making the IT Park a vibrant place where hundreds of youths work. He has Masters and Ph.D in computer engineering (NLP and text mining) from the University of Tokushima, Japan, and Master of Management from the University of Canberra, Australia.
Please click on the link to register
The International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers, 29 May, offers a chance to pay tribute to the uniformed and civilians personnel’s invaluable contribution to the work of the Organization and to honour more than 3,800 peacekeepers who have lost their lives serving under the UN flag since 1948, including 98 last year. Bhutan is ranked number 90 out of 124 troop and police contributing countries. Bhutan currently deploys a total of 25 uniformed personnel, including 3 females, to 9 peacekeeping missions.
To create a world in which every woman and girl can manage her menstruation in a hygienic way – wherever she is – in privacy, safety and with dignity. Together we can ensure access to menstrual products for all.
The Sherubtse-UN Club organized a debate competition on “Can Bhutan Achieve Sustainable Development Goals?” on 21 May. The debate is one of the club’s major activities for the semester which is co-funded by UN Bhutan and Bhutan Happiness Colors. The debate was attended by the Dean of Academic Affairs, faculties and more than 150 students at Sherubtse College.
Some of the points debated during the competition are Bhutan’s economy; SDGs and if Bhutan can or cannot achieve the Sustainable Development Goals in the next 10 years. The affirmative team won the debate and was awarded certificates and prizes. The event also witnessed interested volunteer speakers speaking on the issue.
Along with the debate, the members of the club also wrote reflective and position papers on various issues related to the UN and SDGs. The club will organize a workshop and seminar on SDGs in the future .
Photo credit: Sherubtse-UN Club
Bhutan presented its 3rd Universal Periodic Review (UPR) at the UN Human Rights Council’s Working Group in Geneva, Switzerland. Bhutan is one of the 14 States to be reviewed.
The documents on which the reviews are based are:
During the presentation of the UPR, the Foreign Minister, Lyonpo Tandi Dorji commended the work of the UN’s Human Rights Council and the UPR in promoting and protecting Human Rights around the world.
Type of contract: Fixed Term Appointment
Grade Level: NOA
Duration of contract: 1 Year (Extendable)
Closing date of the vacancy: 8 May 2019 (10 AM)
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Sherubtse College started the “Sherubtse United Nations Club.” The club held it’s first meeting on 29 April.
The UN club aims at giving opportunities for students to participate in simulations of meetings held and issues discussed by United Nations.
The club elected two new coordinators on the foundation day and has 16 registered members.