Tom Arnold, Director General of the Institute of International and European Affairs and former Chief Executive of Concern Worldwide will this evening give a lecture entitled ‘Can World Hunger be ended by 2030?' to leading medical professionals from the north east of Ireland at the RCSI 23rd Leonard Abrahamson Memorial Lecture in the Drogheda Clinical Education Centre in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital.

According to The Lancet series on Maternal and Child Nutrition (2013), malnutrition due to lack of food (undernutrition) is the underlying cause of 3.1 million deaths (45%) of all child deaths under the age of five years. In addition, over 160 million children are stunted which has long term implications for physical growth, cognitive development and life-time earning potential. This results a significant economic cost, possibly as high as 3% of GNP, for many countries.

Tom Arnold, Director General of the Institute of International and European Affairs, said: While considerable progress has been made over the past fifty years in reducing the proportion of the world's population which is hungry, 805 million people will go to bed hungry tonight. With sufficient political will and the correct policies, this figure can be drastically reduced by 2030. Irish leadership will be crucial in striving to achieve a world without hunger.”

Arnold's lecture will explore possible solutions to address undernutrition and hunger. A range of nutrition interventions, such as better nutrition for pregnant women and exclusive breast feeding during the first six months, allied to broader access to treatment for severe malnutrition, are important factors. In addition, giving a greater focus to nutrition in policies for water and sanitation, education, agriculture and social protection is critical. More health workers operating in well-functioning and adequately financed health systems have a crucial role to play in improving nutrition.

Professor Hannah McGee, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, RCSI, said: "With a 20,000-strong global community of alumni across 70 countries worldwide, RCSI has a key role to play in educating healthcare professionals who can tackle health delivery and societal problems globally. We are pleased to host this 23rd Leonard Abrahamson meeting in Drogheda to acknowledge the contribution of our hospital partners and general practices in the North East area, who provide such valuable training opportunities for our students, to ensure that our future generation of doctors receive training of the highest standard."

The topic of tonight's lecture is closely linked to RCSI's role in education for global human health. In particular, the College has a number of programmes in Africa to support healthcare delivery. These include a collaboration programme with the College of Surgeons of East, Central and Southern Africa (COSECSA) to respond to the dire lack of surgical manpower across its ten member countries; projects to train clinical officers to undertake surgical procedures in rural areas; and the development of new vaccines for resource-poor countries.