World Food Day is celebrated every year around the world on October the 16th in honour of the date of the founding of the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) in 1945.
The Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving the proportion of hungry people in the world is a pillar for achieving all eight of the globally-agreed targets with a 2015 deadline, Ban said.
"When people are hungry, they cannot break the crippling chains of poverty, and are vulnerable to infectious diseases," the secretary-general said. "When children are hungry, they cannot grow, learn and develop."
This year alone, Ban said, millions have been pushed into hunger by the earthquake in Haiti, the drought in the Sahel and floods in Pakistan, while the twin food and financial crises continue to affect the world's most vulnerable.
He highlighted the need for global cooperation -- bringing together governments, intergovernmental organizations, regional and sub-regional bodies, business and civil society groups -- to combat hunger.
"Increasingly, their approach is comprehensive," Ban said, covering all aspects of food security, ranging from small farms to feeding schoolchildren.
For more information follow the links below:
Some progress made and some suggestions for the future - including an audio report on the issue
Hunger in Focus: India's Hungry Women and Children Remain a Major Problem
Report Says Hunger Costing Poor Countries Billions
UN Says Global Hunger Remains 'Unacceptably High'
Google news search results about hunger on world Food Day 2010 (search dated Oct 16th)
Ban Ki-Moon speech on World Food Day 2008
