Jordan Times
By Laila Azzeh
 

AMMAN - An international organisation will establish a regional base in Amman to promote a supplement that can give millions of malnourished children and adults a new lease on life.
 

The promotion of Spirulina, a microscopic blue-green algae, in the developing world, was the focus of the Intergovernmental Organisation For The Use of Micro-Algae Spirulina Against Malnutrition’s (IIMSAM) second international summit on Monday.
 

During the opening ceremony yesterday, HRH Princess Basma said the world has witnessed an unprecedented rise in food prices in recent years due to repercussions of the global financial crisis.
 

“According to UN studies, the crisis has also increased the number of hungry people to around one billion, two-thirds of whom are women and children in a time when various types of food are abundant,” Princess Basma highlighted.
 

The Princess said that as 75 per cent of the world’s poor live in rural areas, there is an urgent need to find means to ensure them a decent life, which is at the heart of the IIMSAM’s goals.
 

“I renew my call to the concerned international institutions to intensify their efforts and assist national programmes to study and benefit from all natural resources that would enable them to provide healthy food at the lowest costs,” the Princess underlined, pointing out that Jordan is home to over 500 plant species, many of which can be utilised as natural medicines and sources of nutrition.
 

Princess Basma highlighted the establishment of IIMSAM as a leading example of utilising nature for the benefit of humankind.
 

“Its easy production and low costs may encourage rural women to cultivate Spirulina to provide food for their families on one hand and generate additional income on the other, which could add a new dimension to sustainable development,” she noted.
 

During yesterday’s event, held under the title, “Towards a New Future Free of Malnutrition”, Jordan was selected as the regional centre for IIMSAM.
 

“Jordan is the first country in the Middle East to provide the organisation with official supportØ© we will make use of our location to look into ways of cooperating with Jordan,” IIMSAM Director General Martin Maradona told The Jordan Times yesterday, expressing hope that the event will be the start of joint action between the organisation and the Arab world in producing Spirulina.
 

Minister of Agriculture Mazen Khasawneh said the event provides a platform to build ties and implement a joint programme with the organisation to eliminate malnutrition in underprivileged areas in the Kingdom. He declined to indicate whether Jordan would produce Spirulina.
 

IIMSAM’s Goodwill Ambassador and Facilitator for the IIMSAM East & Central Africa Spirulina Programme Said Obama said the latest UN statistics showed alarming figures regarding the number of children who died before the age of five due to hunger.
 

“Hunger is the reality for around one billion of people worldwide we are working to reach out to as many as people we can,” Obama told The Jordan Times.
 

Spiral shaped coils that live both in the sea and freshwater, Spirulina can be consumed in the form of powder or tablets. It contains over 60 per cent more protein than any other cultivated food source and uses little water.
 

Established in 2003 through two international agreements that are recognised in the UN Treaty Series. IIMSAM is accredited as a permanent observer with the United Nations Economic and Social Council.