FAO Goodwill Ambassadors Carl Lewis and Anggun join in push for action on the Millennium Development Goals

1 September, 2010, Rome - FAO Goodwill Ambassadors Carl Lewis (athlete, USA) and Anggun (singer, Indonesia)  

have been named by the United Nations as MDG Champions. The announcement was made today at UN headquarters in New York.

The number of hungry people in the world is currently at an historic high. FAO estimates that there were 1.02 billion undernourished individuals in 2009. Hunger has increased not as a result of poor harvests but because of high food prices, lower incomes and increasing unemployment due to the economic crisis. 

FAO Goodwill Ambassadors speak with one voice in an urgent appeal on behalf of the more than one billion people living in chronic hunger worldwide.  

Carl Lewis and Anggun will be joining other celebrities in support of the MDG Summit to be held in New York on 22 September 2010.

They are also taking part in an online social media campaign to raise awareness about the MDGs, and both of them are active with this campaign on Twitter and Facebook.

The UN Summit in New York on 20-22 September will bring together close to 150 Heads of State and Government, joined by leaders from the private sector, foundations and civil society and celebrities, to commit to an action agenda to achieve the MDGs.