RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC — FHI 360 is pleased to announce that it has been awarded the Food and Nutrition Technical Assistance III Project (FANTA), a five-year United States Agency for International Development (USAID) program designed to strengthen nutrition and food security policies, strategies, programs and systems in developing countries. FHI 360's technical experts will improve the capacity of government agencies and local and national organizations to more effectively meet their nutrition- and food security-related needs in continuation of their work under previous FANTA projects.

Robert M. Clay, deputy assistant administrator of USAID's Bureau for Global Health, commended the project team: "We are thrilled to continue to work with the FHI 360 team on the critical objectives of FANTA and USAID. The team has played an absolutely vital role in advancing the global agenda around nutrition, food security and HIV. The work and the legacy of what the team has done over the past years have provided USAID with the opportunity to ramp up our nutrition programs under the Global Health Initiative and under Feed the Future."

Approximately one in seven people worldwide suffers from hunger and more than 2.6 million children die from undernutrition every year. Through the FANTA project, FHI 360 will collaborate with national governments, nongovernmental organizations and other partners on a wide range of food- and nutrition-related activities. Under this project, technical experts will develop innovative tools, training curricula and other resources to design and improve nutrition and food security programs. In addition, FHI 360 will provide technical assistance to enhance maternal and child nutrition and health. Food and nutrition will be integrated into the prevention and treatment of HIV and other infectious diseases. Gender issues will be integrated into nutrition and food security programs. Nutrition and agriculture linkages will be strengthened. On a global level, the project will strengthen the evidence base, methods andstandards for nutrition and food security programming.

"With nearly 1 billion people in the world suffering from hunger, we believe this project is critical to improving lives," said Albert J. Siemens, CEO of FHI 360. "We are honored to have been awarded FANTA, and we look forward to continuing this work which has had a vital impact on communities around the world."