Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Health Organization (WHO) are to hold a food security regional conference Monday in Zimbabwe amid widespread hunger in the southern African region, according to a statement released here on Sunday.

The statement said about forty-seven African countries, seven international organizations and more than 170 delegates will attend the conference. They are expected to endorse the first ever Food Safety Action Plan for Africa, which will protect consumers' health and develop stable food trade relations for the region.

FAO said last month millions of people in 24 countries in sub-Saharan Africa are facing food emergencies caused by problems ranging from civil strife and war to adverse weather and economic crisis.

It warned the situation is worst in southern Africa, where about 12 million people need immediate emergency food following a poor cereal harvest earlier this year.

Every year, food and waterborne diseases are estimated to cause some 700,000 deaths in Africa, about one third of the global deaths from food illnesses.

The severity of this problem is evident when compared to the death toll from malaria, a major killer disease which accounts for more than one million deaths worldwide, most of these in Africa.

The conference is part of a series of regional meetings on food safety that FAO and WHO are convening in response to requests from member countries for policy advice and capacity building in food safety.

Source: Xinhua