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'One Billion Meals' is one of the biggest humanitarian initiatives launched by the UAE and its success becomes even greater when the programme helps in feeding the unprivileged and needy during the Holy month of Ramadan.
One Billion Meals is a crucial extension of the 100 Million Meals campaign launched by UAE authorities during Ramadan last year. Over time, it has become the biggest food distribution campaign in the region, providing 76 million meals in just six days with the help of 45,491 donors and 98 participating entities. The initiative raised a whopping Dh76 million to provide food parcels containing staples such as rice, flour, oil and sugar, to the needy to enable them in preparing their own nutritious meals.
According to ‘The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World’ report by the United Nations, more than 820 million people in countries across the bed sleep on empty stomachs every night and the number continues to grow every year. It is bringing the society dangerously close to a billion people struggling with hunger, severe malnutrition, stunted growth and death.
The report also noted that Africa and Asia have the world’s greatest share of all forms of malnutrition, with more than nine out of ten of all stunted-growth children and over nine out of ten of the undernourished children in the world.
The UAE earned appreciation for ensuring every possible effort to overcome global humanitarian issues. Time and again, the country has contributed to uplifting the underprivileged communities. On several occasions, the UAE has been named the world’s largest donor of development assistance in proportion to its gross national income, and as such the One Billion Meals Initiative. It is this dedication of the UAE leadership that the latest initiative is helping vulnerable people, including displaced people and refugees in more than 50 countries such as India, Syria, Afghanistan, Morocco, Albania, Jordan, Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon and Bangladesh. The initiative also aims to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 2 to end global hunger by 2030.
This ambitious humanitarian action is particularly crucial at a time when countries across the world are recovering from the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in order to make ends meet.
A primary objective of the One Billion Meals campaign is to design long-term solutions to combat malnutrition and hunger at the grassroots level as well as limit people's reliance on humanitarian aid. The initiative promotes the significance of sustainability in agriculture and food security to empower communities and turn the distributions into ‘enabled meals'.
To achieve these objectives, the One Billion Meals drive will also likely continue after Ramadan, noting that efforts will not stop to deliver one billion meals to vulnerable communities across the world. Such efforts are crucial in fighting global hunger and ensuring the health and wellbeing of communities in need. It (global hunger) is not just someone else's problem, it is ours and we all need to help solve the crisis.
Interested people can make their contribution to the efforts by donating to the initiative. People can go online to www.1billionmeals.ae or can make a direct bank transfer to Emirates NBD bank account with IBAN no AE300260001015333439802 with their desired donations.
SOURCE: Khaleej Times