World food crisis: a wake-up call to save a generation of children. Participants statement: Castel Gondolfo, Italy, 25 january, 2009

The world food crisis is a wake-up call to save this generation of children A group of eminent scientists met to map out opportunities for the global community to respond more effectively to today's economic crisis in ways that will protect not just jobs and physical infrastructure but the lives and future productivity of the world's poorest people. [...] in West Africa, severe malnutrition has been reduced in the past 12 mo in countries such as Niger and Burkina Faso by a combination of targeted food distribution, increased vaccination coverage, bed nets to protect against malaria, and education of mothers in the best ways to ensure future growth and development of their surviving children.