The deadline for achieving the world’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is almost upon us. Since the MDG’s were announced, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in collaboration with Rome-based sister UN agencies WFP and IFAD, has been closely monitoring the progress of countries trying to achieve MDG-1c, the goal to reduce the proportion of hunger by half by the year 2015, since the base year 1990.

Some countries and Al Maghreb subregion have made great strides in reducing hunger. However, critical challenges remain in subregion of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and Yemen and Al Mashreq subregion, which is home to nearly 70 percent of the undernourished in the region. Concerns over the rapid increase of overweight and obese populations in counties of the NENA region are also reported.

In light of these issues, FAO will launch on 3 June 2015, its first report “Regional Overview of Food Insecurity in the Near East and North Africa”.

The report provides an overview on how countries and subregions of the Near East and North Africa regions have fared in their pursuit of reducing hunger and meeting the 2015 deadline of this, one of the most critical, Millennium Development Goals.