One third of world's food is wasted, says UN study

About one third of all food produced for human consumption goes to waste, according to a study commissioned by the United Nations food agency.

That amounts to more than one billion tonnes of waste around the world every year.

The study recommends that developing countries should improve production and distribution, so as to stop losing so much food.

It also says industrialised countries must stop throwing so much away.

Loss versus waste

The UN study, by the Swedish Institute for Food and Biotechnology, was aimed at an international trade fair for the food packaging industry, to be held in Germany later this month.

Among the key findings are that consumers in rich countries waste almost as much food, 222 million tonnes, as the entire net food production of sub-Saharan Africa.

International Nurses Day (May 12)

  International Nurses Day is observed on  May 12, to mark the Birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale who is regarded as the founder of Modern Nursing and remembered as the “lady with the lamp.” 

This year’s theme is “Closing the Gap: Increasing Access and Equity.”

Health care is as a main public priority in most parts of the world and nurses play a central role in delivering health care. Nurses help educate patients and the public on the prevention of illness and injury, provide care and assist in cure, participate in rehabilitation, and provide support. Nurses have always been in the forefront of change in health care and public health. Their round-the-clock presence, observation skills, and vigilance allow doctors to make better diagnoses and propose better treatments.