The world must ensure access to food supplies as forcefully as it moved to ensure access to vaccines, Reuters quoted Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi as saying at the opening of the United Nations Food Systems Pre-Summit in Rome.

“The health crisis (Covid-19) has led to a food crisis,” he said, citing data showing malnutrition in all its forms has become the leading cause of ill health and death in the world.

The UN's first ever Food Systems Summit will take place in September, with the aim of delivering progress on the body's 2030 sustainable development goals.