Enough food exists in the world today to feed the global population, yet hunger and malnutrition still claim 25,000 lives a day and 10 million a year, making malnutrition the world's leading health problem. To meet the UN Millennium Development Goal (MDG) to halve the world's hungry population by 2015, food supplies must be made more available and accessible to the poor in the developing world. Food availability can mean the use of sustainable agricultural resources and effective food production, while access suggests a wide range of factors from enabling food distribution channels such as food rationing systems to agricultural and trade policies. The Global Development Gateway has designed the Food Access and Availability Cross-topic Special that looks at the diverse range of issues that influence food access and availability in the developing world. It coincides with World Food Day on October 16.

(China.org.cn October 15, 2004)