Global food prices are soaring.

The European Union (EU), the United States (US) and more than two dozen other countries vowed Friday to shore up global food security in a joint statement to the World Trade Organization (WTO).Voicing alarm at the "global effects on food security" triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, they stressed "the urgency and importance of maintaining open and predictable agricultural markets and trade".That would "ensure the continued flow of food, as well as products

Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis:Omicron Spreading At 'Unprecedented Rate'The World Health Organization (WHO) warns that the new coronavirus variant Omicron is spreading "at a rate we have not seen with any previous variant" and is likely already present in most countries.COVID Pill Results 'Positive' Pfizer says that clinical trials have confirmed that its COVID pill, a new type of antiviral treatment that should withstand the

The world is facing a global care crisis that we must address urgently.When children live in unstable family environments or lose crucial family bonds at an early age, it can have irreversible consequences on the rest of their lives.This is what we see in our work, day in and day out.We see it when we meet children like eight-month-old Aleksander and his 10-year-old sister Natalyia, who both live in Ukraine. Tragically, they recently lost their mother who was raising them as a single parent.

Each phone call from Vietnam causes Thai Duong’s heart to skip a few beats.For Duong, who grew up in District 4 of Ho Chi Minh City but currently lives in California, every contact with home poses the possibility of bad news.

From the first community pantry on Maginhawa Street, Quezon City, dozens more have opened not only in Metro Manila, but also in some Luzon provinces, the Bicol region and in Mindanao, prompting Caloocan Bishop Pablo Virgilio David to call it “the most tangible sign of hope.’’In Iligan City, Lucia Silva launched on Sunday her version of young entrepreneur Ana Patricia Non’s Maginhawa community pantry at Purok 5 in Sitio Canaway, Barangay Saray, where many had lost their jobs. “Most of

Hunger is an issue that has long plagued a number of countries in Southeast Asia. Cambodia, a developing country between Thailand and Vietnam, remains one of the poorest nations in the region.But, in recent years, Cambodia has made notable progress towards improving citizens’ nutrition. This can be seen from the reduction of children’s stunting occurrences (low-height-for-age) from 42 percent in 2005 to 32 percent in 2014.

This past year COVID-19 has placed Southeast Asia on the brink of a socio-economic crisis, with 218 million informal workers’ livelihoods at risk and as many as 38 million people pushed into poverty. The crisis, coupled with typhoons that devastated countries such as Vietnam and the Philippines, risks rolling back a generation of progress in the fight against hunger. More than 64 million people in Southeast Asia were undernourished in 2019.

The world is not yet sufficiently alarmed by how much the COVID-19 pandemic has ravaged the global economy. We track the daily numbers of infections and casualties. But we are oblivious to the job losses and lives upended, especially in the developing world, where the pandemic has barely elicited a public-health response.The pandemic’s impact on major economies has so far been four times worse than that of the 2008 global financial crisis.