29 Jan 2010 --- Royal DSM N.V., the global Life Sciences and Materials Sciences company, announces a three year extension of its global partnership with the World Food Programme (WFP), the world’s largest humanitarian organisation, fighting hunger worldwide. The aim of the partnership is to fight the debilitating effects of hunger in the developing world.

Hunger affects an estimated one billion people around the world, mostly in Africa, India, and Southeast Asia. Hunger takes its toll on the individual and society from increasing the prevalence of chronic diseases and higher mortality to impaired mental and physical development to higher healthcare costs to lower economic output. According to WFP, the cost of child malnutrition accounts for between 2 to 3% of GDP in some developing countries.

‘The innovative scientific and product support provided by DSM is playing a key role in the fight against hunger worldwide,’ said Josette Sheeran, WFP Executive Director, ‘Strategic partnerships are essential to solving global hunger, which affects more than one billion people around the world today. No one sector – public nor private – can solve hunger alone.’

DSM and WFP have trialled and tested new products and programmes to tackle hunger related malnutrition, developed a more sophisticated understanding of the problem, and have been very active in building awareness of the problem and available solutions. DSM also worked very closely with WFP during the design of its Nutrition Improvement Approach, which shifted its strategic focus from food security (providing enough calories) to including nutrition security (providing nutrient-rich food).

‘DSM has a very strong commitment to its partnership with WFP; we have never seen this as a one-off project,’ said Feike Sijbesma, CEO of DSM. 'I am really proud of the collaboration to date. The objective of our partnership is that the impact of public-private nutritional interventions will be felt by all of WFP’s beneficiaries. Nutritious foods with essential vitamins and minerals mean better future for millions of people.’

Having established the foundations, DSM will assist WFP in implementing its Nutrition Improvement Approach. DSM will continue to provide ongoing technical and scientific support, supply food supplements and food fortification products, and will work with WFP as it develops and rolls-out country specific nutrition strategies. Nutritionists from DSM and WFP are, for example, currently working together to address the nutrition needs of Haitians in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake and on a longer-term food recovery program, with an emphasis on nutrient-rich food, especially reaching children.

DSM and WFP will continue to work closely together to build further awareness amongst world leaders and the broader public about the problem of malnutrition and the need to deliver global nutrition security.