Cameroon, Brazil, Ethiopia, Gabon, The Gambia, Iran, Kiribati, Malaysia, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Philippines and Uruguay are the latest in a growing list of countries to make great strides in combating undernourishment. This includes the early achievement of the Millennium Development Goal 1 (MDG-1) hunger target – to halve the proportion of hungry people by 2015 – or the more stringent 1996 World Food Summit (WFS) target of halving the absolute number of hungry people by 2015.

FAO Director General, José Graziano da Silva, will recognize the progress made by these 13 countries by awarding diplomas to their representatives at a ceremony scheduled to take place at the UN agency’s Rome headquarters on 30 November, 2014.

Earlier this year FAO recognized the achievements of three countries while in 2013, 38 countries won recognition for having reduced by half either the proportion or the number of people who suffer from hunger ahead of the 2015 deadline-.

According to FAO estimates, Ethiopia, Gabon, The Gambia, Iran, Kiribati, Malaysia, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico and the Philippines have now reached the MDG-1 hunger target while Brazil, Cameroon and Uruguay have also achieved the more ambitious WFS target of halving the number of hungry by 2015.