It will serve as a reminder and symbol of the the UN’s Zero Hunger Challenge that is focused on eliminating the hunger that affects about 800m people in the world as well as other issues like childhood stunting and malnutrition.
100,000 visitors and operators are expected at the 5-month long Expo in Milan and will be exposed to the campaign that has been boosted this week at the #ICN2 where the Rome Declaration on Nutrition has quantified global malnutrition problems and proposed measures to solve them.
Nearly half (45%) of deaths in children under five - 3.1 million children each year – are caused by poor nutrition.
One out of six children – roughly 100 million – in developing countries is underweight. One in four of the world's children are stunted and in developing countries the proportion can rise to one in three.
66 million primary school-age children attend classes hungry across the developing world. The World Food Programme (WFP) estimates US$3.2 billion (€2.57bn) is needed per year to reach them all and the blue spoon campaign is helping attack the problem.
Sources:
State of Food Insecurity in the World, FAO, 2014
Series on Maternal and Child Nutrition, The Lancet, 2013
Global health Observatory, WHO, 2012
Prevalence and Trends of Stunting among ... Children, Public Health Nutrition, 2012
Two Minutes to Learn About School Meals, WFP, 2012