Medicaid is a frequent topic of conversation, but almost no one mentions the program’s vital role in preventing hunger in the United States.  

Medicaid is the nation’s largest publicly funded healthcare program. In fact, for every $5 in healthcare costs in the U.S., $1 comes from Medicaid. The program provides 71.8 million people with health insurance. Medicaid covers health insurance premiums and most out-of-pocket costs, allowing participants to spend more of their money on household food needs.

Medicaid lowers health insurance premiums for everyone. Chronic conditions and food insecurity are strongly associated with higher healthcare spending. Those additional expenditures translate into higher insurance premiums that everyone must pay. If Medicaid did not provide insurance for many lower-income Americans, the cost of food insecurity to the healthcare system would likely be an even higher percentage. This is one example of how investments in access to nutritious food, preventive medicine, and affordable treatment for illness have whole-of-country benefits.

Hunger and food insecurity can drive up healthcare costs, as shown in Bread’s 2016 Hunger Report, The Nourishing Effect: Ending Hunger, Improving Health, and Reducing Inequality. Using very conservative assumptions, researchers found that hunger cost the U.S. healthcare system at least $160 billion annually in 2016 dollars. More recently, a study published in Health Affairs found, based on nationally representative data, that “… food-insecure families had 20 percent greater total healthcare expenditures than food-secure families,” for an annual difference of $2,456.

Despite these cost savings, some members of the U.S. House and Senate have proposed cutting Medicaid funding by $880 billion over 10 years. Such budget cuts would have a devastating effect on the lives of about 20 percent of the U.S. population. 

Medicaid is especially important to children, whose nutrition is the focus of Bread’s current campaign, Nourish Our Future. One-third of all Medicaid participants are children. Seventy percent of WIC participants also receive Medicaid. Of children living in households that participate in SNAP, nearly 9 in 10 receive benefits either through Medicaid or a smaller program, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).   

Households with children that participate in Medicaid showed a reduction in food insecurity of 20 percent. A subgroup, known as households with “very low food security,” had a larger improvement of 26 percent. Households with young children and households with Black and/or Hispanic children had larger improvements as well.

While all health systems could be doing more to promote nutritious food and healthy eating, Medicaid has been a leader compared with private healthcare insurers. For example, Medicaid supports screening for food insecurity during the patient intake process and piloted the use of what are known as Medicaid 1115 Demonstration Waivers, which some states have used to pilot produce prescription programs and other initiatives to treat metabolic disease.  

Not all states would be affected equally by the proposed cuts. More people would lose their Medicaid benefits in states with higher percentages of Medicaid participants. Because Medicaid is one of the largest sources of federal funding to state budgets, cuts to Medicaid would also produce secondary impacts such as eliminating jobs. In Texas, which consistently has high rates of household food insecurity, researchers found that the cuts proposed by the House of Representatives would be likely to cost the state more than 54,000 jobs. 

Many Congressional Republicans support work requirements for Medicaid participants. This assumes that many Medicaid recipients do not want to work, but the evidence does not support this. Ninety-two percent of working-age adults on Medicaid have jobs, while the remainder are living with an illness or disability, caring for children and/or elders, or taking classes to qualify for a better job.  

Bread for the World opposes any policy changes or budget cuts to Medicaid that will decrease access to life-saving health care and increase hunger for those who are already vulnerable. 

Todd Post is a former senior domestic policy advisor, Policy and Research Institute, with Bread for the World.

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“We need food,” is the first thing Gazans say upon meeting James Elder, spokesperson for UNICEF, the U.N. children’s agency. 

“[Gazans] are saying that because their assumption is the world doesn’t know, because how would this be allowed to happen if the world knew?” Elder said in an interview.

In the seven months ending April 5, 2024, more than 33,000 people had been killed, including 14,500 children. The deaths are the result of an ongoing Israeli military attack that began in response to an attack on Israel by Hamas. On October 7, 2023, members of Hamas crossed the border from the Gaza Strip into Israel, killed hundreds of Israeli civilians, and abducted more than 230 people. 

“The number of children reported killed in just over 4 months in Gaza is higher than the number of children killed in 4 years of wars [elsewhere in] the world combined. This war is a war on children. It is a war on their childhood and their future.” Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General, U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees 

Several months later, the entire population of the Gaza Strip, 2.23 million people, are living on the verge of famine. Conditions for many are expected to deteriorate even further. By mid-July 2024, half of the population (1.11 million people) will face catastrophic conditions, the most severe level of food insecurity, “in the most likely scenario and under the assumption of an escalation of the conflict, including a ground offensive in Rafah,” according to an analysis by food security experts. 

 More than 50,000 children are believed to be suffering from acute malnutrition, a condition that is frequently fatal if not promptly treated, and 73,000 injuries have been reported.  Yet, only 10 of 36 main hospitals are “functioning to some extent,” according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

“Hunger and disease are a deadly combination,” said Dr. Mike Ryan, Executive Director of WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme. “Hungry, weakened, and deeply traumatized children are more likely to get sick, and children who are sick, especially with diarrhea, cannot absorb nutrients well. It’s dangerous, and tragic, and happening before our eyes.”

“I feel like my children will die in front of my eyes. What can I say? I don’t know what I am to do. I can feel them dying before my eyes. This is my daughter. It’s been five days she is without food or drink. I don’t know what to do for her.” Khuloud al-Masri, Gazan mother of two.

Extremely limited humanitarian access to border crossings and within the Gaza Strip continues to impede the provision of urgently needed assistance. Humanitarian workers, both Gazans and citizens of many other countries, continue to do their best to deliver food to desperate people. But their jobs are incredibly dangerous: as of April 11, 2024, according to the United Nations, a total of 203 aid workers have been killed in Gaza, including seven workers from the U.S.-headquartered World Central Kitchen. All warring parties should change course to respect the neutrality of humanitarian workers and work to coordinate their safe passage.

The vast majority of Gazans, about 85 percent, have been forced to flee their homes. These 1.9 million displaced people are largely without shelter, because more than 70 percent of all buildings in the north, and half of all buildings in the whole country, have been either damaged or destroyed. 

The scale of destruction is almost unimaginable. This is why the International Crisis Group reported last month that famine cannot be prevented solely by providing food, because so much of the infrastructure needed for basic services like clean water and sanitation has been destroyed. Johns Hopkins University’s projections suggest that even in the most optimistic ceasefire scenario, thousands of “excess” deaths are inevitable.

Top priorities—that can nonetheless only begin after a lasting ceasefire is in effect—include restoring the infrastructure needed for clean water and sanitation; building temporary shelters so that people are protected during the longer process of rebuilding homes and schools; rebuilding and reopening hospitals and clinics; and reestablishing the capacity to provide basic health care and treat malnutrition. 

This daunting list of even the most urgent tasks points to both the importance of funding UNRWA, an agency with the experience and local knowledge to provide effective assistance, and the need for other humanitarian assistance programs to continue to do all they possibly can. Every hour and every day are critical to a human being.

Humanitarian action is guided by four principles: humanity, impartiality, neutrality, and independence. Humanitarians are committed to alleviating human suffering, protecting life and health, ensuring respect for human beings wherever they live, and prioritizing the most urgent cases without discrimination.

International humanitarian law strictly prohibits using starvation as a weapon of war. People who are living in a territory under occupation have additional rights. Specifically, humanitarian law holds the occupying authorities responsible for ensuring sufficient civilian access to food and essential medical care. If there are shortages, the occupying authorities are required to import supplies or authorize relief efforts. 

Bread for the World is calling for diplomatic efforts towards a ceasefire, the release of all hostages, the allocation of sufficient humanitarian assistance, the access needed to deliver assistance, and safety and security for aid workers.

Syeda Lamia Hossain is a global hunger fellow, Policy and Research Institute, with Bread for the World.

The post A Manmade Famine in Gaza appeared first on Bread for the World.

In Bread for the World’s early years, the 1970s and 1980s, members urged Congress to approve funding for childhood vaccinations. We joined with global, national, and local partners toward the goal of universal childhood immunization—and advocates helped win significant progress. In 1974, fewer than 5 percent of the world’s children had received immunizations by their first birthday. By 1985, this had increased tenfold, to 50 percent. 

Childhood vaccination programs continue to save countless lives each year, and Bread continues to emphasize their essential role in protecting children with weakened immune systems. One of our more recent advocacy “asks” was a call for effective “catch-up strategies” for young children now at risk because they missed vaccines due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  

The pandemic damaged the systems that countries around the world had put in place to ensure that their populations received the protections of immunization. In November 2022, then-director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control Dr. Rochelle Walensky said that the record number of children who missed essential doses of vaccine against measles was a sign of “the profound damage immunization systems have sustained during the COVID-19 pandemic.” 

Although vaccinations for adults receive considerably less attention, they save lives as well. In September 2023, the Forum Network of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) reported that 100 million doses of vaccines for adults were missed in 2021 and 2022 alone. The pandemic reversed what had been steady progress on vaccinations for adults. From a high of 400 million doses annually, the global total fell to 363 million in 2021 and 351 million in 2022. 

Michael Hodin, CEO of the Global Council on Aging, calls adult vaccination “one of our most important and cost-effective public health measures.” Vaccines protect people from potentially deadly diseases such as influenza, shingles, pneumonia, and Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV). These diseases have far-reaching impacts. Not only do they affect the long-term health and quality of life of patients, but they can cause immense losses to family members, as well as less-recognized costs such as fewer available hospital beds and lost productivity. 

We typically think of adult vaccinations as protecting elders. This is in fact more important than ever, with a projected global population of more than 1.4 billion people over age 60 by 2030. Vaccines play a key role for pregnant women as well. Even modest improvements, due to fewer illnesses, in the health of women suffering from malnutrition can reduce their considerable risks during childbirth. 

But global and national leaders must also recognize the necessity of protecting the general adult population. This seems like something that “everyone knows,” but leaders need only to look to the not-so-distant past for a very sharp reminder. In the 1990s and early 2000s, a fatal disease not preventable by vaccine, HIV/AIDS, killed millions of people in dozens of African countries. Those who died were primarily younger adults in their prime parenting and working years. 

Even beyond shock and grief, the impacts on children and elders left behind were devastating. Grandparents no longer able to do the heavy agricultural labor they had done for most of their lives suddenly found themselves trying to feed and care for several orphaned grandchildren. So many adults died in some countries that there were even so-called “child-headed households,” with children in their early teens—occasionally as young as 9—struggling to grow crops and look after two or three younger siblings.  

In the early years of the AIDS pandemic, before the emergence of antiretroviral medications, healthcare providers were helpless to prevent the illness and then death of significant shares of a country’s parents. But such profound losses can and should be avoided when it comes to vaccine-preventable diseases. 

As the OECD Forum Network notes, “We know progress is possible – in fact, COVID-19 vaccination itself proves the point, as more than 70 percent of the world’s population has received a dose.” 

The world will continue to see the impacts of the pandemic on global health for years to come—from missed cancer screenings, to postponed surgeries, to deaths from vaccine-preventable diseases. Catching up on immunizations is a straightforward way to prevent the pandemic from imposing even more costs—avoidable costs—on human lives and health. 

Michele Learner is managing editor, Policy and Research Institute, with Bread for the World.

The post Vaccination Saves Lives—At Every Age  appeared first on Bread for the World.

Bread for the World advocates for policies in the 2023 U.S. farm bill that will advance our three principles for effective food systems: nutrition, equity, and sustainability.  

Recently, Bread discussed how strengthening the Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (GusNIP) can contribute to a farm bill that embodies Bread’s values. GusNIP’s Nutrition Incentive Grants enable people who participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to receive an additional monthly benefit amount specifically to buy fruits and vegetables. 

Another component of GusNIP is its Produce Prescription program (PPR). Currently, the PPR receives 10 percent of GusNIP’s funding. Expanding the produce prescription benefit would increase the very small percentage of SNAP participants who have increased access to healthy foods through GusNIP and its PPR.  

GusNIP’s PPR project implementers work in partnership with healthcare providers to prescribe fresh produce to low-income patients with chronic medical conditions that have been linked to diet, such as obesity, hypertension, and diabetes.   

A major goal of “prescribing” fruits and vegetables is to increase people’s consumption of these foods, which can lower the risk of chronic medical conditions.

Other goals of the PPR project include reducing food insecurity as well as unnecessary spending on health care. The potential for savings on healthcare costs is significant since 85 percent of all U.S. healthcare spending is on costs related to dietary-linked diseases.  

GusNIP’s PPR project is making progress toward these goals. The latest national evaluation shows that participants consume more fruits and vegetables than the average American. In addition, studies of produce prescription programs have found that their impacts match or even surpass the effects of prescription drug therapies.¹  

In June, Bread highlighted GusNIP during its annual Advocacy Summit. Freida Graves, Director of Food Systems, Health, and Wellness at FAITH Farm & Orchard, spoke on a panel about GusNIP. She shared her experiences in developing a PPR in Gary, Indiana, through the GusNIP program.

FAITH Farm & Orchard is a one-acre farm focused on making fresh, local, and nutritious food available to residents in and around Gary, Indiana. In partnership with local hospitals and doctors, FAITH Farm recently received a three-year PPR grant from GusNIP.  

Graves exemplifies the theme of this year’s Advocacy Summit, the Power of Perseverance, through her commitment to enabling people to access healthy food and to promoting policies that will reduce food insecurity and health disparities in her community.  

With a background in nursing, Graves is passionate about bringing Food as Medicine initiatives to her community. She comments, “I could give you a billion stories, but I have to tell you, what touches my heart the most is helping people get healthy in just a little way. Just putting a small footprint into the big disparities that we have.”   

The project funded by this grant will provide free weekly produce and ongoing nutrition education to residents with specific health conditions. People will be shown how to select produce that meets their specific health needs. Graves adds that community members “are really interested to learn about how to eat in a healthy way and being able to have access to fresh food and vegetables.”  

Graves sees PPR’s potential to turn around food and health disparities in Gary for generations to come. She is focused on the sustainability of the project, emphasizing that, “We understand this is a three-year grant, but this is not a three-year process. It’s going to take 10 years or better to get some of the things turned around in this community.”  

Allison Bunyan is an Emerson Hunger Fellow, Policy and Research Institute, with Bread for the World.

¹Haslam A, Gill J, Taniguchi T, Love C, Jernigan VB. The effect of food prescription programs on chronic disease management in primarily low-income populations: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Nutr Health. 2022 Feb 2:2601060211070718. doi 10.1177/02601060211070718. Epub ahead of print. Complete citation available on request. 

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The U.S. farm bill, which is reauthorized every five years, plays an influential role in federal food and agricultural policy. Bread for the World members are working to secure improvements as Congress drafts the 2023 farm bill. The current farm bill expires September 30, 2023.

Increasing access to healthy food is key to ending hunger and poor nutrition. One way to do this in the farm bill is to strengthen the Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (GusNIP).

Many people are familiar with SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. As the country’s first line of defense against hunger, SNAP helps an average of more than 40 million Americans put food on the table each month. GusNIP’s Nutrition Incentive Grants enable people who participate in SNAP to receive an additional monthly benefit amount specifically to buy fruits and vegetables. 

Bread advocates for the elimination of the GusNIP match requirement, under which recipients of GusNIP Nutrition Incentive Grants must raise 50 percent of program costs themselves. The match requirement means that grantees often cannot afford to expand and provide equitable access to fruits and vegetables to people in rural areas.  

In Alabama, Auburn University’s Hunger Solutions Institute (HSI) has a three-year GusNIP Nutrition Incentive Grant. HSI is working to scale up its program to include more small independent grocers in rural areas. Dr. Kara Newby, HSI’s Outreach Project Administrator, explained, “Our farmers’ markets tend to be in, for the most part, large cities or suburbs, so adding grocers is really important, especially smaller rural grocers.” 

HSI needs more funding to expand and reach more people. A larger GusNIP grant would prompt a larger match requirement, however, and there is no more room in the organization’s budget to meet the match. Newby said, “The biggest limiting factor for us is the match [requirement]… We’ve got people wanting to join our program, but we just don’t have any more money.” 

HSI uses its GusNIP grant to run Double Up Food Bucks (DUFB) Alabama, which operates in seven farmers markets and three grocery stores statewide. SNAP participants who are customers receive vouchers or tokens for up to $10 in “double-up food bucks,” which can be used to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables. 

Both farmers markets and grocery stores are important to GusNIP’s efforts to improve people’s access to fresh fruits and vegetables. Alexis Clark, the City Venues Operations Manager for the city of Tuscaloosa, explained that GusNIP funds, made available through the DUFB program, attract more SNAP participants to the Tuscaloosa River Market, and also benefit farmers. “We have some people who come back every week and … we have others who learn about it for the first time and are just tickled,” she said. For example, once the DUFB program became involved, Hale Farms’ revenue from SNAP benefits rose from $500 annually to about $1,700. 

But SNAP participants spend a large proportion of their grocery money at grocery stores. Although a lower percentage of the extra money for nutritious foods is redeemed at grocery stores than at farmers markets, expanding GusNIP’s nutrition incentives to additional grocery stores is more expensive than adding more farmers markets. When money ran out before the end of the grant year, the program was able to serve fewer people overall, and it halted expanding into grocery stores for a time. 

The match requirement adds to budget uncertainties for businesses like the Tuscaloosa River Market. Finances, and therefore services, are not always stable from year to year. In its first year, the market ran out of funds provided through GusNIP before it was eligible to request more. Clark describes the impact: “We had to go about a month and a half without any funds and our poor customers were so sad.”

Bread has received similar feedback from other GusNIP grantees, including Fresh Access Bucks in Florida, Produce Perks in Ohio, and DUFB Heartland in Missouri and Kansas. We suspect that many others agree. 

HSI has decided that, in addition to applying for another GusNIP grant, it will also apply for funds from the state of Alabama. This will hopefully help ensure that people have year-round access to the nutrients they need.

Allison Bunyan is an Emerson Hunger Fellow, Policy and Research Institute, at Bread for the World.  

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“This report proves our warnings that the COVID-19 crisis would become a global hunger crisis,” said Jordan Teague, interim co-director of policy analysis & coalition building at Bread for the World. “The pandemic revealed and exacerbated problems that were already in place – including ongoing military conflict, disruptions to the food system caused by climate shocks, and a lack of equitable access to economic resources and nutritious food.”   

According to the report, between 720 million and 811 million people were hungry in 2020. This means as many as 161 million more people faced hunger in 2020 than in 2019. Africa is the hardest hit region, with the sharpest rise and double the prevalence of hunger than any other region. Africa is also the only region with increasing numbers of children with long-term malnutrition. However, all lower-income regions are affected.

The report notes that countries impacted by conflict, climate change, and/or economic downturn experienced increases in hunger in 2020, while hunger decreased in countries not affected by these drivers. Only one-quarter of countries are on track to end malnutrition by 2030, and around half of all children live in countries that are not on track.

“Although the COVID-19 pandemic has set us back, ending hunger and malnutrition by 2030 is still possible,” said Teague. “We know how to end hunger and malnutrition as God calls us to do. The world – including the United States – has the resources to end hunger and malnutrition. What we need is the political will from our leaders to make it happen.”

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As 2021 approaches the halfway mark, the United States is seeing some encouraging signs. The country has reached milestones in its COVID-19 vaccination efforts, particularly among elders. By early May, more than 35 percent of the U.S. population had been fully vaccinated, and this level could see a bump with the approval of vaccines for children ages 12 to 15, which had recently been announced at the time of writing.

We recognize that the overall numbers and percentages conceal wide variations by region, age, race, ethnicity, gender, income level, and other factors. In addition, 35 percent or 40 percent is far short of the vaccination levels thought to be needed to contain COVID-19 or “reach herd immunity” in this country. Still, it is a far cry from the situation of a year ago or six months ago.

We pointed out in an earlier piece that in a global pandemic of an infectious disease, quite literally no one is safe until everyone is safe. Global vaccine equity must therefore be a top priority as the world tries to recover.

Several other recent Bread for the World blog posts also discuss key issues as we move forward. Following up his piece on how the Child Tax Credit (CTC) expansion works to significantly reduce child poverty, Todd Post makes the case for a broader plan to invest in our country’s children, a “1,000 Days infrastructure.” Jordan Teague and Rahma Sohail wrap up their series on hunger in fragile contexts around the world with recommendations on reducing hunger while recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic. I recently wrote a piece on the urgent hunger crises, including three that are considered famines, that threaten children, particularly babies and toddlers, in the pandemic era.

While policymakers may understand on an intellectual level that global vaccine equity is absolutely necessary, they must now act on that knowledge—despite other priorities, distractions, worries about “political realities,” or anything else. If anyone needed a reminder that this is urgent, the headlines on the explosion of COVID-19 cases in India would supply that reminder.

The reported number is just under 400,000 new COVID infections per day, but researchers at the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) estimate the true number of new infections at 8 million daily. That is a new group the size of New York City’s entire population becoming infected every day.

By now, many details of the crisis in India are sadly familiar from accounts of other major waves of the pandemic. Few neighborhoods or extended families remain untouched. Families without many financial resources cannot afford to bury or cremate their dead. People in the Indian diaspora are urgently organizing to help hospitals facing shortages of the supplemental oxygen people with severe COVID need to survive.

Even beyond the unthinkable scale of tragedy in a country of nearly 1.4 billion, “India’s” second COVID-19 wave does not belong to India alone, and it will not stay there. Neighboring Nepal has already seen a surge in new infections. And although India is able to conduct genetic sequencing on only a tiny percentage of positive tests—meaning that variants and their spread can easily be missed—at least one variant of great concern to researchers has not only been identified, but has spread to 44 countries at last count.

Experts say that the crisis in India was predictable and more could have been done to prevent it. The Indian government has had a slow start to its vaccination efforts, but the governments of high-income countries could be doing better as well. For months, the U.S. government would not allow exports to India of raw materials needed to manufacture COVID-19 vaccines, and the United States also stockpiled millions of doses that were going unused because the FDA had not yet approved them.

“The pandemic has once again highlighted the extreme international inequality in access to lifesaving vaccines and drugs,” said Bina Agarwal, professor of development economics and environment at the University of Manchester, U.K.

The U.S. government is now sending essential supplies for vaccine production to India, and it has pledged to export the unused vaccine doses. In addition, Bread had urged the administration to make it easier for other nations to manufacture vaccines. We were heartened by the announcement in early May that because this is a dire emergency, the U.S. government will support waiving intellectual property restrictions for COVID-19 vaccines.

But as of May 12, less than 3 percent of India’s population had been fully vaccinated. Clearly, India’s people could not and cannot afford avoidable delays of any kind. And, since viruses don’t respect borders, people elsewhere in the world cannot afford them either.

Michele Learner is managing editor with Bread for the World Institute.  

The post Global Vaccine Equity: Leave no one behind appeared first on Bread for the World.

By Jordan Teague, senior international policy advisor

In just five years, Kenya reduced its child wasting rate by 39 percent. It also made progress on child stunting, with a 35 percent decrease over nine years.

This rapid progress against malnutrition was made possible by improvements in many areas: delivering nutrition services, enacting nutrition governance legislation, strengthening supportive economic policies, developing a healthier food system, and building community resilience. Effective advocacy for nutrition and external support to the Kenyan government were also key ingredients in success. But Kenya faces difficulties in its efforts to further reduce malnutrition.

Two areas of difficulty are wide disparities among the country’s regions, and shortfalls in funding. Kenyans themselves must take the lead in overcoming these obstacles, but the U.S. government can support Kenya, along with other countries working to reduce malnutrition, in three main ways:

• Increase nutrition funding to help fill the funding gap.
• Invest nutrition resources for greater impact by increasing the share of nutrition funding in programs and making nutrition a key objective of agriculture and health programs.
• Target nutrition resources to the communities with the highest burden of malnutrition.

Kenya, with the support of many internal and external stakeholders invested in its success, has taken commendable steps to accelerate its progress on nutrition. These steps include prioritizing governance, increasing human resources capacity in nutrition within the health system, diversifying agriculture and people’s diets, investing in resilience, creating space for advocacy, and leading coordination efforts among all stakeholders.

While there has been progress on reducing stunting and wasting, Kenya still faces difficulties such as funding shortfalls and uneven progress that risks exacerbating nutrition disparities.View full report.

Recognizing that children are the greatest asset of our nation, my government is committed to ending child undernutrition.

— The Honorable Uhuru Kenyatta, President of Kenya

The post Briefing Paper: Accelerated Nutrition Progress in Kenya appeared first on Bread for the World.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is the first line of defense against hunger for people in the United States.

SNAP benefits help low-income people put food on the table. Participants include seniors, children, people living with disabilities, and low-wage workers and their families. Nearly half of the people who receive SNAP are children.

A very important feature of SNAP is that it is designed to respond to changes in need, making it very well suited to respond to crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The federal government can also augment SNAP as needed with programs such as Disaster SNAP (D-SNAP) and Pandemic SNAP (P-SNAP). D-SNAP is historically allocated in response to natural disasters, while P-SNAP would help with the devastating long-term consequences of COVID-19.

The Family First Coronavirus Relief Act includes “response waivers,” exceptions to SNAP rules during the pandemic and post-pandemic period. For example, the legislation allows:

• SNAP flexibility for low-income jobless workers: It suspends work and work training requirements for SNAP during this crisis.
• SNAP flexibilities in a public health emergency: It allows states to request special waivers from the Secretary of Agriculture to provide temporary, emergency Coronavirus SNAP (CR-SNAP) benefits to existing SNAP households up to the maximum monthly allotment, and it gives the Secretary broad discretion to provide much more flexibility for states in managing SNAP caseloads.

Over and above these necessary steps, Bread for the World calls for the following to support the most vulnerable people.

• Increase the maximum monthly SNAP benefit by 15 percent
• Temporarily increase the minimum SNAP benefit from $16 to $30 to encourage higher rates of senior participation
• Give states temporary flexibility to suspend SNAP administrative rules that weaken their response to the crisis

The COVID-19 economic recovery package must build on the Family First Coronavirus Relief Act and include the 15 percent boost in benefits to ensure families have access to adequate resources during the pandemic.

Nearly half of the people who receive SNAP are children

The post Fact Sheet: Coronavirus (COVID-19) and SNAP appeared first on Bread for the World.

Washington, D.C.—Bread for the World today released the following statement in support of H.R. 6201, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act.

“Bread for the World commends the House of Representatives for bipartisan passage of H.R. 6201, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. We urge the Senate to immediately pass this vital legislation. COVID-19 is a hunger issue. While it is likely to affect everyone, COVID-19 will hit low-income families and poor countries the hardest,” said Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World.

The Families First Coronavirus Response Act provides additional emergency funding to address the health and economic effects of the virus. It expands food security initiatives – including SNAP, senior meals, and support for food banks. With thousands of schools closing, the legislation ensures children who receive free or reduced school meals continue to get the nutrition they need. Importantly, H.R. 6201 provides free testing for COVID-19 and extends paid leave to people who are sick or need to care for ill family members or children who are out of school. The legislation also strengthens unemployment insurance to help those impacted by the virus make ends meet.

“Bread for the World supports the efforts of Congress and the administration to set political differences aside, recognize the impact COVID-19 could have on the most vulnerable among us, and take action to ensure families receive the support they need,” said Beckmann. 

“In the Bible a plague is often seen as a call to prayer and repentance, and God promises to ‘heal the land’ that asks for help and helps people in need (2 Chronicles 7:14). We therefore affirm this act of Congress and join the world in praying for a quick end to this global pandemic and for all those who have been affected,” added Beckmann.

COVID-19 is a hunger issue … low-income families and poor countries will be hit hardest

The post Bread for the World Statement on the Families First Coronavirus Response Act appeared first on Bread for the World.

Sin embargo, como grupo, los hispanos son más propensos que otras personas a vivir en la pobreza y a carecer de acceso regular y fiable a alimentos necesarios para la buena salud. Los hispanos también son más propensos a recibir sueldos por debajo del mínimo, y a trabajar y vivir en condiciones subestándar.

Las tasas elevadas de hambre y pobreza entre los hispanos son resultados directos de la discriminación de raza, género, y estado migratorio. Comparado con la tasa nacional de pobreza de 12.7 por ciento, el 19.4 por ciento de los latinos, 30 por ciento de familias encabezadas por una persona indocumentada, y un sorprendente 34.7 por ciento de familias latinas encabezadas por mujeres viven debajo de la línea de pobreza.

1 de cada 5 familias latinas tiene por lo menos un miembro padeciendo hambre en algún momento del año.

USDA Economic Research Service

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USAID’s Multi-Sectoral Nutrition Strategy (MSNS) provides a roadmap to elevate and integrate nutrition as a priority for all of the agency’s work to support countries to achieve these goals.

While having the Strategy in place has elevated the profile of maternal and child nutrition at USAID and brought high-level action on nutrition, USAID must build on and strengthen its multisector nutrition efforts to accelerate progress on nutrition.

USAID should:

• Ensure sufficient, equitable, and well-targeted funding for global nutrition
• Set and monitor SMART targets for nutrition across the agency
• Provide analysis and guidance on programmatic strategies to maximize nutrition outcomes
• Establish permanent positions for nutrition focal points at headquarters and in missions

This briefing paper is intended to complement USAID’s assessment of the MSNS. It highlights both successes and challenges identified in our interviews and field research, and it offers recommendations for sustaining and strengthening the impact of the Strategy on progress toward the 2025 global nutrition targets and the 2030 goal to end malnutrition in all its forms. Download a summary of the paper.

“Optimal nutrition is fundamental to achieving USAID’s wider mission.”

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Worldwide, maternal and child malnutrition causes millions of deaths each year. In some countries, it holds entire generations back from reaching their economic potential.

The United States has been critical to global nutrition efforts for decades. We must continue to be a leader in supporting countries to end malnutrition. Losing U.S. momentum now would stall global progress, putting current and future generations in unnecessary danger of death or lifelong disability.

Key Points

• To end the need for foreign assistance, now is the time to act on ending malnutrition.
• While the trends show progress on maternal and child nutrition, the continuation of progress is vulnerable if the U.S. government steps back.
• Congressional leadership is critical to ensuring that the United States keeps its commitments, supporting country-led efforts to improve nutrition among mothers and their young children.

“Nutrition is the biggest missed opportunity in global health.”

Bill Gates, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

The post The U.S. Contribution to Ending Global Malnutrition appeared first on Bread for the World.

Good nutrition during the 1,000 days from a woman’s pregnancy to her child’s second birthday is crucial to ensuring the child’s health, physical growth, and brain development. Assisting mothers and children with nutrition must be accompanied by good bodily and household care practices, clean environments, and access to health services.

A great deal of progress has been made globally in reducing malnutrition, but there is still a long way to go. We need to accelerate progress on maternal and child nutrition to ensure that all women and children are able to live dignified, healthy lives. Nearly half of all preventable child deaths are linked to malnutrition, and in 2017, 151 million children were physically stunted, a consequence of chronic malnutrition.

Early childhood malnutrition also stunts a child’s future, limiting his or her ability to grow, learn, earn a living, become self-sufficient, and move out of poverty, due to malnutrition’s harmful effects on cognitive growth as well. Children suffering from poor nutrition are more vulnerable to illnesses in their early years and into adulthood. Expectant mothers who are malnourished are at higher risk of bearing malnourished children, perpetuating an intergenerational cycle of malnutrition.

As one of the largest donors to global maternal and child health programs, the U.S. has long led the international community in efforts to improve child survival. Through the 1,000 Days Partnership, the U.S. has helped raise awareness about the devastating impact of malnutrition and mobilized support for the global Scaling Up Nutrition Movement. The Sustainable Development Goals adopted by all nations in September 2015 aim to end hunger, malnutrition, and preventable child deaths by 2030. To
help achieve these ambitious and transformative goals, the U.S. must demonstrate continued leadership in improving global nutrition.

Experts in economics agree that fighting malnutrition should be the top priority for policy makers and philanthropists.

Copenhagen Consensus, 2012

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Bread for the World Institute

Racial Wealth Gap Learning Simulation

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Overall, adults with very low food security are 40 percent more likely to have a chronic illness than adults in households with high food security.

On average, the number of chronic conditions for adults in households with low food security is 18 percent higher than for those in households with high food security. Even adults in households with marginal food security were nine percent less likely to report excellent health than those in households with high food security.

Chronic conditions are costly both in terms of human life and in financial terms. Chronic conditions often pose barriers to employment and other life activities and can also hasten death.

Key Terms:

• Very Low Food Security
  At times during the year, eating patterns of one or more household members were disrupted and food intake reduced because the household lacked money and other resources for food.
• High Food Security:
  Households had no problems or anxiety about consistently accessing adequate food.

“Food insecurity status is more strongly predictive of chronic illness in some cases even than income.”

USDA Economic Research Service

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In June, the Circle released a statement of principles that said, in part:

We favor sensible cost controls that do not deny needed care to low-income Americans.  And we support measures that aim to reduce health care costs.  However, these deep cuts in Medicaid would put at risk the well-being of millions of our fellow Americans—especially the weakest, the oldest, and children most at risk.  We ask our leaders to consider options that do not ask our poorest neighbors to bear most of the weight of budget and health care cuts.

Cassidy-Graham contains billions of dollars in cuts to Medicaid. In addition, Christian leaders are concerned that the timing of the bill’s introduction and upcoming vote has not allowed the Congressional Budget Office to analyze its full impact – including the number of people who will lose coverage, the impact on health insurance premiums, and other vital information. 

As Christian leaders in the Circle of Protection, our concern is always how legislation impacts the poor and most vulnerable, and many of our organizations have strongly encouraged our constituencies to contact their Senators on this bill on behalf of the people Christ has asked us to protect.

Quotes from key Circle of Protection leaders follow:

David Beckmann, President, Bread for the World: “Cassidy-Graham is just as bad as the other health care bills that have been rejected. It would end the Medicaid expansion and take health care coverage away from tens of millions of people. Of course, those Americans who have the greatest need for health care coverage – seniors, people with disabilities, and families with children – would be hit hardest by this legislation. People without health insurance must often choose between paying for medicine and the medical care they need, and putting food on the table. Senators should work together on a bipartisan bill that does not take away health insurance from tens of millions of the most vulnerable Americans.”

Jim Wallis, President and Founder, Sojourners: “Jesus tells us that how we treat the most vulnerable in society, including the poor and the sick, is how we treat him. How we treat Christ himself. There are different ways for a nation to organize and manage its health care system. But the moral test and the biblical test of any system is how it treats the poorest and most vulnerable—how a health care system treats those who are sick or most vulnerable in their health. The Graham-Cassidy bill fails that moral test. By slashing funding for the Medicaid program and instituting a so-called “per capita cap” on Medicaid spending, this deeply flawed legislation would result in millions of poor people losing their health care. Children, the elderly, those with disabilities – all would be harmed. These cuts will kill. The Senate should reject Graham-Cassidy and work toward sensible, bipartisan solutions for our nation’s health care system. And people of faith should quickly contact their own senators and express their strong opposition to the bill.”  

Leith Anderson, President, National Association of Evangelicals: “Despite its impressive achievements, our health care system often fails to deliver affordable, life-saving help to many of our citizens. Reforms are needed, but they should be carefully studied and not rushed through Congress without expert analysis and thorough debate on the inevitable trade-offs inherent in any reform. Above all, any policy and funding changes should be evaluated by how they treat the most vulnerable among us.”

Rev. Noel Castellanos, President, Christian Community Development Association: “As the President of CCDA, representing over 1,000 organizations in poor communities across the nation, I must denounce congress’ desperate attempt to repeal Obama Care for the sake of our neighbors. The Graham-Cassidy Plan is the ultimate example of putting political promises over peoples. It amounts to robbery from the most vulnerable in desperate need of health coverage. Kudos to Senator McCain for rejecting this cold-hearted direction and calling for bi-partisan improvement to our current system so that every American can have adequate health care.”

U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops: “Decisions about the health of our citizens—a concern fundamental to each of us—should not be made in haste simply because an artificial deadline looms. The far-reaching implications of Congress’ actions are too significant for that kind of governance. Instead, the common good should call you to come together in a bi-partisan way to pass thoughtful legislation that addresses the life, conscience, immigrant access, market stability and affordability problems that now exist. Your constituents, especially those with no voice of their own in this process, deserve no less.”

Rev. Dr. Leslie Copeland-Tune, Director, Ecumenical Poverty Initiative: “It is dangerous, irresponsible and immoral for the Senate to take up another reiteration of a health care bill that will jeopardize the lives of millions of people. This latest version seems to go further down a destructive path by block granting the Affordable Care Act, leaving it more vulnerable to budget cuts, and putting a per capita cap on Medicaid, which would result in millions of the most vulnerable losing coverage. The insistence to do ‘any old thing’ to try to repeal the Affordable Care Act without a viable replacement borders on public service malpractice. As Christians, our faith calls us to care for and speak on behalf of the most vulnerable. The Graham-Cassidy bill hurts the elderly, the poor, children and the most vulnerable in our society. In fact, this bill makes all of us more vulnerable and we oppose it in the strongest terms. We encourage all people of faith and conscience to bombard the Senate with calls opposing this legislation and we urge Senators to recommit to a bipartisan solution to fix the Affordable Care Act for the sake of our nation and the most vulnerable among us.”

Commissioner David Hudson, National Commander, The Salvation Army: “As one of America’s largest service providing organizations, The Salvation Army supports initiatives to improve and streamline programs that help our most vulnerable individuals. We support efforts that help reduce government spending, that give states more flexibility, and that make federal funding for Medicaid more predictable.  However, The Salvation Army is concerned that under the Graham-Cassidy healthcare reform proposal, millions of struggling Americans would lose their Medicaid healthcare coverage. The Salvation Army is worried that the current proposal deeply cuts Medicaid funding without considering who would be impacted, eliminates or weakens protections for people with pre-existing conditions, and increases out-of-pocket costs for individual market consumers. This would have a negative impact on the lives and health of the very people we serve.  We believe that any efficiencies made to Medicaid should have a goal of providing the best care to the most vulnerable in our society, not reducing coverage.”

Jo Anne Lyon, Ambassador, General Superintendent Emerita, The Wesleyan Church: Making policy decisions on the basis of partisan politics as opposed to the common good of the people is immoral.    Such as is happening with the Cassidy- Graham bill.  This bill will result in reduction and loss of health care for the vulnerable, elderly, children, disabled as well as newborns struggling for life of which is in direct opposition for those of us who share the beliefs and practices of Pro-Life.  It is imperative that there be much more thought and work on a bi-partisan approach that brings about the common good for all. 

Sister Donna Markham, OP, PhD, President and CEO, Catholic Charities USA: “While the legislation makes efforts to better protect life and increase flexibility to states, a bill that rolls back gains in health care for the poor and vulnerable is deeply regretful. The Medicaid program is a vital component of the social safety net, which provides access to health care at a lower cost than traditional insurance, funds nearly 50 percent of all births and provides access to life saving care for children, the elderly and the poor. True health care reform should improve the Medicaid program, not limit it.  Pope Francis reminds us that “access to health care services cannot be a privilege.” CCUSA urges you to reject the Graham-Cassidy bill and craft a health care bill which truly expands coverage, reduces costs and respects human life and dignity.” From a public letter posted September 21, 2017.

Board of Trustees, Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, Inc.: “With the current administration, it is clear that there is little regard for ‘the least of these.’ That lawmakers would put politics before people, while not surprising, is troubling, and points to their determination to take America ‘back’ to a place where compassion and human rights are reserved for only certain people. In the recent gathering of faith leaders in Geneva, Switzerland of the United Nations’ Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent (WGEPAD), our General Secretary, Dr. Iva Carruthers, noted, ‘We live in a society where there is a racialized hierarchy of human value, and African Americans, as well as Hispanics and other non-white people, are at the bottom.’ This bill is no less than a part of a troubling trend to create and enact policies which are going to hurt vast numbers of people, most of whom are black, brown, the very young, the elderly and the poor. Nothing in this bill reveals a love for Christ Jesus; nothing in this bill indicates that we have a federal government which holds precious the dictates of Christianity. What is being proposed is immoral and it is wrong. It is the hope and desire of the Board of Trustees of the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, Inc. (SDPC) that this bill is defeated and that the work of shaping a health care law that will take care of all of God’s children will begin.”

Diane Randall, Executive Secretary, Friends Committee on National Legislation: “The Cassidy-Graham health care proposal violates the very values that lie at the core of Quaker morals. This bill would threaten the health and dignity of millions of Americans, especially low-income children, seniors, and people with disabilities. Cassidy-Graham includes extreme cuts to Medicaid, undermines critical protections for individuals with pre-existing conditions, shifts billions of dollars onto states, and will cause tens of millions of Americans to lose health coverage. Moreover, advancing this legislation will destroy the productive and bipartisan work currently taking place. Rather than trying to force through yet another rushed, ultra-partisan, dysfunctional health care proposal that causes millions of Americans to lose health coverage, Congress should refocus back on the bipartisan negotiations so desperately needed to stabilize the insurance markets and lower health care costs.”

Rev. Amy E. Reumann, Director, Advocacy, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America: “God intends wholeness as a blessing for all people. Access to quality and affordable health care is not only a human right but an honoring of the dignity of each person made in the image of God. Cassidy-Graham will affect the health care of almost every American by restructuring and slashing Medicaid, allowing states to opt out of essential health benefits and waive coverage of pre-existing conditions. Instead of this bad bill, we call on our leaders to work together on a bi-partisan improvement of the ACA by expanding access to care, rather than dismantling it in a way that will deprive those most vulnerable, including the elderly, children and those who have a disability. No one should suffer from the lack of health care in a country that can so abundantly afford to ensure it for everyone in our communities.”

Dr. Barbara Williams-Skinner, Co-Chair, National African American Clergy Network: “The biblical call to care for the sick is crystal clear – and the Graham-Cassidy bill deeply violates it.  Cutting billions of dollars from Medicaid is misguided and dangerous and would worsen the lives of millions of poor people across the country.  These cuts would disproportionately affect minority populations.  I urge the United States Senate to reject this bill and work in a bipartisan way to improve the health care system in the United States.”

Jim Winkler, President and General Secretary, National Council of Churches: “There is not a single Member of Congress who does not understand that Graham-Cassidy will result in fewer people with health insurance and reduced spending on Medicaid. This bill will create unnecessary hardship for millions of our people. As Christian leaders, we cannot possibly support legislation that will hurt the last, the least, and the lost.” 

The post Christian Leaders Speak Out on Cassidy-Graham Health Care Bill appeared first on Bread for the World.

People shouldn’t have to choose between paying for food or medicine. Ensuring individuals can access affordable health insurance is a critical component in reaching the goal of ending hunger by 2030. When more people are insured, struggling households are better able to afford nutritious food and lead healthier lives.

In 2015, for the first time in eight years, the United States saw a significant decline in the overall rate of food insecurity and poverty. This decline was due, in part, to increased access to health care through the expansion of Medicaid and overall health insurance enrollment through the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Millions of Americans have gained coverage through the ACA. However, health care costs continue to rise and too many moderate to low-income families are still unable to afford quality health insurance. To end hunger by 2030, the United States must have a health care system that works for all.

“Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another…”

John 13:34

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The proposed legislation would make deep cuts to Medicaid, end the Medicaid expansion, and block grant Medicaid’s remaining funds to the states. Tens of millions of people are expected to lose their health care coverage if this bill becomes law, which would increase hunger and poverty. 

The following statement can be attributed to Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World:

“Cassidy-Graham is just as bad as the other health care bills that have been rejected by the Senate. It would end the Medicaid expansion and take health care coverage away from tens of millions of people. Of course, those Americans who have the greatest need for health care coverage – seniors, people with disabilities, and families with children – would be hit hardest by this legislation.

“Hunger and poverty rates have been declining, due in part to the expansion of health care coverage. This legislation would reverse the progress that has been made and increase hunger and poverty in the U.S. People without health insurance must often choose between paying for medicine and the health care they need, and putting food on the table.

“Senators should work together on a bipartisan bill that does not take away health insurance from tens of millions of the most vulnerable Americans.”   

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“Le damos gracias a Dios por este triunfo. El Senado se ha opuesto a profundos recortes a Medicaid y a quitarle a decenas de millones de personas el seguro médico. Cada una de las propuestas de ley sobre la salud que consideró el Senado hubiera aumentado el hambre, la pobreza y la enfermedad en nuestro país.

“Lo que dijo John McCain al regresar de su cirugía indica el camino a seguir – discusión y mutuo acuerdo bipartidistas. Es ese el camino a seguir para el cuidado de salud, la reforma tributaria y las asignaciones.

“Ya es hora de que los republicanos en el Congreso muevan al país hacia delante mediante discusión y mutuo acuerdo bipartidistas.

“Les damos las gracias a todos los miembros de Pan para el Mundo que se reunieron con sus miembros del Congreso o les contactaron por teléfono, correo electrónico y cartas. Agradecemos especialmente a las senadoras Collins y Murkowski por sus votos valientes”.

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“We thank God for this victory.  The Senate has decided against deep cuts to Medicaid and against taking health insurance away from tens of millions of people.  Each of the healthcare bills that the Senate considered would have increased hunger, poverty, and disease in our country.    

“What John McCain said as he returned from surgery points the way forward – bipartisan discussion and compromise.  That’s the way forward on health care, tax reform, and appropriations.

“It’s time for congressional Republicans to move the nation forward through bipartisan discussion  and compromise.

“We thank all the Bread for the World members who met with their members of Congress or contacted them through calls, personal emails, and letters.   We also especially thank Sens. Collins and Murkowski for their courageous votes.”  

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“The Senate’s health care bill is no better than the House version,” said Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World. “This bill should not be passed because it will increase hunger and poverty. Twenty-two million people, including 15 million of the most vulnerable Americans, would lose their health care coverage.”

The BCRA would cut Medicaid funding $772 billion by 2026, according to an analysis released this afternoon by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). It would also end the Medicaid expansion and enact deeper, long-term cuts to the program.

“Both bills are mean-spirited and cruel,” Beckmann said. “If senators truly care about the well-being of their most vulnerable constituents – the elderly, people with disabilities, and children — they will vote against this legislation.”

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“The Senate version is no better than the House-passed American Health Care Act (AHCA),” said Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World. “Rolling back the Medicaid expansion at a slower rate still means that millions of vulnerable Americans will lose their health care coverage. Without health insurance, people must often choose between putting food on the table and receiving the medical care they need.”

The BCRA would end the Medicaid expansion and enact deeper, long-term cuts to the program. Medicaid currently insures about 74 million Americans.

“Any senator who supports this bill will be voting to take away health insurance from the elderly, people with disabilities, and children,” Beckmann said. “If senators are truly interested in making our health care system ‘better,’ they would draft a bill that ensures all Americans have the health care coverage they need. Clearly, the senators need to go back to the drawing board.”

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This will only serve to increase hunger and poverty in the United States, which already has the highest number of hungry and poor people among the world’s richest countries.

“The American Health Care Act would have a devastating impact on working families, driving many deeper into hunger and poverty,” said Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World. “Without health insurance, people must often choose between putting food on the table and receiving the medical care they need.” 

The AHCA is the first step in the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare.

The CBO found that the AHCA will cut $834 billion from Medicaid over 10 years, which will cause 14 million Americans to lose coverage. The score does not take into account the additional $610 billion President Trump proposes to cut from Medicaid in the fiscal year 2018 budget The White House released on Tuesday.

Restructuring Medicaid, a program that covers over 70 million people, and ending the Medicaid expansion will put affordable health care coverage out of reach for millions of Americans. More than one-third of all U.S.  children rely on Medicaid for their health care, and almost half of Medicaid recipients are children.

The AHCA would also cut subsidies that have made it possible for millions of families to buy health insurance, dramatically raising costs for poor people and senior citizens.  Before Obamacare, 1 in 3 Americans with chronic medical conditions had to choose between paying for medical treatment and purchasing food for their family.

“The AHCA, combined with President Trump’s proposed budget, would be a double whammy for struggling families,” Beckmann said. “The president has broken his promise not to cut Medicaid, and 14 million Americans will pay the price.”  

The post New Analysis of Health Care Law Affirms Increases in Hunger, Poverty appeared first on Bread for the World.

Famine has been declared in two counties of South Sudan, while other areas of South Sudan, Nigeria, Somalia, and Yemen are experiencing food security emergencies that could soon become famines. 20 million people are at risk of starvation in these countries, including 1.4 million children at “imminent risk of death” from starvation and malnutrition.

The risks associated with malnutrition are intensified by famine. When pregnant women and children younger than 2 live in famine conditions, they are at even greater risk of the short-term consequences (acute malnutrition and death) and the long-term consequences (stunting, disease, and poverty) of early childhood malnutrition than in less dire situations.

The post Fact Sheet: Nutrition During Famine appeared first on Bread for the World.

“La Ley Americana de Cuidado de la Salud forzará a millones de personas a vivir con hambre y pobreza”, dijo el reverendo David Beckmann, presidente de Pan para el Mundo. “LA AHCA les quita seguro médico a millones de estadounidenses y aumenta los costos para millones más. Esto no es lo que a los ciudadanos se les prometió”.

Por lo menos 24 millones de personas perderían su cobertura de cuidado de salud bajo la AHCA. La AHCA pondría un límite para los estados en financiación de Medicaid, y eliminaría la expansión del mismo. Los estados recibirían menos fondos para cubrir a los niños, los pobres, los ancianos, y los discapacitados, lo cual causaría el racionamiento del cuidado médico. Aproximadamente 68 millones de estadounidenses reciben seguro médico por medio del programa Medicaid.

La AHCA también recortaría las subvenciones que han hecho posible que millones de familias compren seguro médico, y permitiría que las compañías de seguro cobren tarifas más altas a las personas con enfermedades preexistentes. Esto les haría imposible pagar el costo de seguro médico a millones de familias, especialmente a las personas que padecen pobreza y a los ancianos. Antes de la Ley del Cuidado de Salud a Bajo Precio, 1 de cada 3 personas con enfermedades crónicas preexistentes estaba forzada a escoger entre pagar por tratamiento médico y comprar alimentos para su familia.

“Proteger Medicaid es una prioridad para la comunidad de fe”, dijo Beckmann. “Las ‘reparaciones’ hechas a la AHCA no cambian el hecho de que millones de estadounidenses de bajos recursos perderán su cobertura médica. Los gastos médicos a menudo fuerzan a las familias, especialmente a las que enfrentan incertidumbre financiera, a entrar en el hambre y la pobreza. Exhortamos firmemente al Senado a que rechace esta ley”.

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“The American Health Care Act will push millions of people into hunger and poverty,” said Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World. “The AHCA takes away health insurance from tens of millions of Americans and drives up costs for millions more. This is not what Americans were promised.”  

At least 24 million people would lose their health care coverage under the AHCA. The AHCA would cap state Medicaid funding and eliminate the Medicaid expansion. States would receive less money to cover children, the poor, the elderly, and the disabled, resulting in the rationing of health care. Approximately 68 million Americans receive health insurance through the Medicaid program.

The AHCA would also cut subsidies that have made it possible for millions of families to buy health insurance, and allow insurers to charge higher rates for those with pre-existing conditions. This would place the cost of health insurance out of reach for millions of families, especially the poor and elderly. Before the Affordable Care Act, 1 in 3 people with chronic medical conditions had to choose between paying for medical treatment and purchasing food for their family.

“Protecting Medicaid is a priority for the faith community,” Beckmann added. “The ‘fixes’ made to the AHCA do nothing to change the fact that millions of low-income Americans will lose their health coverage. Medical bills often drive families, especially those who struggle to make ends meet, into hunger and poverty. We strongly urge the Senate to reject this bill.”  

The post Bread for the World Urges Senate to Reject AHCA appeared first on Bread for the World.

The following statement can be attributed to Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World:

“Protecting Medicaid is a priority for the faith community. If the American Health Care Act had become law, 14 million people would have lost Medicaid; a program that helps 70 million Americans. People without affordable health coverage must often choose between buying food for their families and paying for medical care. We commend the members of the House who stood up to the leadership and spoke out against the proposed cuts to Medicaid, and we urge everyone to remain steadfast in their commitment to protect low-income families in our country.”  

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Legislation under consideration in the House and Senate would gut Medicaid, which is a joint federal-state program and the single largest source of health insurance in the United States.

Together with the Children’s Health Insurance Program, Medicaid provides health insurance to more than 72 million Americans.

Without healthcare coverage through Medicaid, low-in-come families will be forced to make impossible “choices” among seeing a doctor, filling a prescription, buying food, and paying their rent.

The result of lower Medicaid coverage rates would be millions of additional people at greater risk of hunger and food insecurity (defined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as worrying that there will not be enough money to buy food).

The post Fact Sheet: The Hunger-Medicaid Connection appeared first on Bread for the World.

“The proposed American Health Care Act would have a devastating impact on poor and elderly people, driving many deeper into hunger and poverty,” said Eric Mitchell, director of government relations at Bread for the World. “Fourteen million of the poorest Americans would lose their Medicaid coverage. Oftentimes, people without health insurance must choose between putting food on the table and receiving medical care.” 

The American Health Care Act (AHCA) would cut Medicaid funding by $880 billion over 10 years, according to an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The AHCA would cap Medicaid funding to the states and eliminate the ACA Medicaid expansion. States would receive less money to cover children, the poor, the elderly, and the disabled, resulting in the rationing of health care. Approximately 68 million Americans receive health insurance through the Medicaid program.

The AHCA would also cut subsidies that have made it possible for millions of families to buy health insurance, dramatically raising costs for the poor and elderly. Before the ACA, 1 in 3 people with chronic medical conditions had to choose between paying for medical treatment and purchasing food for their family.

“Families who struggle to make ends meet are often driven deeper into hunger and poverty because of medical bills,” Mitchell added. “Medicaid has helped make it possible for millions to overcome this. Capping funding for Medicaid will mean that many qualified people will not be covered by the program. And those who are will not receive the same quality of care. Costs will go up and families will suffer. This is not what Americans were promised.”  

The post AHCA Will Increase Hunger, Poverty appeared first on Bread for the World.

Last week, the 115th Congress was sworn in and immediately introduced a budget resolution that will repeal the Medicaid expansion component of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Repealing parts of the ACA without immediately replacing it will hurt our nation’s ability to end hunger by 2030.

Call your senators today at (800-826-3688). Tell your U.S. senators to make ending hunger by 2030 a priority and to vote NO on any legislation that includes repealing the expansion of Medicaid without a responsible alternative in place.

In the 32 states that have expanded Medicaid, over 16 million low-income people have received access to health care coverage. These are individuals who before would have had to choose between their medicine and their food. Repealing the expansion of Medicaid without a viable replacement will hurt millions of children and families, and will increase hunger and poverty for many low-income Americans.

Eliminating health care for millions of Americans is a mistake! Make your call right now and tell your senators to be responsible with America’s health care system. Learn more about the fast-track procedures the 115th Congress could use to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

Eric Mitchell is the director of government relations at Bread for the World.

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The SDGs are an opportunity for advocates and organizations to work together to achieve maximum impact. Many are already engaged. For example, leaders of all major U.S. faith traditions, as well as five U.S. cities and one state (California), have committed to the SDGs.

The post Briefing Paper: The Sustainable Development Goals in the United States appeared first on Bread for the World.

Relates to the topic of the 2016 Offering of Letters: Survive and Thrive.

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Incluye una introducción a este asunto, una reflexión bíblica, acciones prácticas que puedes tomar, y una oración.

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Since then, the Zambian and U.S. governments, health institutions, and other organizations have worked together to gain some control over the disease.

However, HIV cases are still high in Zambia — 12.4 percent of adults (over age 15) were HIV-positive in 2014, according to the United Nations AIDS program. And in November 2015, UNICEF reported that AIDS is now the leading cause of death for African teenagers, which means that many teens dying of AIDS were most likely HIV positive as younger children. Zambia has its share.

Making progress on malnutrition and health is key to ending hunger.

Connecting Nutrition and Health

The connections between nutrition and health are becoming more understood in both developed countries like the U.S. and developing nations like Zambia. At St. Francis, a church-supported mission hospital in eastern Zambia, nutrition and treatment for HIV already go hand-in-hand.

By 7:30 every morning, one wing of the hospital is full of adults and children. They sit on ledges in the outdoor corridors, which serve as waiting areas for patients. A hospital staff person leads an informal workshop on eating well at home for the group that arrives first in the morning. In this way, the hospital provides extra nutrition education to patients with HIV and their caregivers while they are waiting to be seen by the staff.

Among those lined up one morning are Colins Mwale, a 6-year-old boy, and his mother, Felistas Miti Mwale. Colins is HIV-positive and has come to St. Francis’ out-patient clinic for a regular check-up and monthly supply of antiretroviral drugs. 

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Mothers and Children Surviving and Thriving

Colins and the other patients — the hospital sees as many as 150 daily — will have a series of visits to offices along the corridor where their medical history and current health status will be checked. Staff also speak to patients — Colins’ mother in this case — about what they eat at home during these check-ups. 

In one office, after asking about Colins’ diet, the nurse asks his mother what time he takes his medication every day. The nurse checks Colins’ height and weight and then asks Felistas about Colins’ mental development. “How is his speech? Does he play with his friends?” The nurse notes that Colins is underweight for his height. She advises his mother to give him foods high in protein, like peanuts, which are readily available to many rural Zambians, as a snack. 

For HIV-positive patients like Colins, the hospital is receiving assistance from the Thrive program of PATH, a U.S.-based nonprofit that specializes in health in developing countries. Thrive is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), a major way our federal government carries out its response to hunger and poverty overseas. 

The last stop for Colins and his mother on their visit is the pharmacy at the end of the corridor. The HIV drugs are supplied by the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, started in 2008, and another way the U.S. government provides assistance overseas. Some patients also receive high-protein dietary supplements, supplied by USAID, if they are determined to be malnourished during their visits. 

With the medicine and food Colins and his mother receive, the nurse believes he can have a good quality of life and live to be 45 or 50 years old. While no one can see that far into the future, he is being given a chance at surviving and thriving today.

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831,500 HIV-positive pregnant women received antiretroviral medications in 2015, resulting in 267,000 babies born HIV-free. Source: PEPFAR World Aids Day update

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It’s around 10:00 on a morning in October, and already the African sun is beating down, hinting at another hot and still day. In the shade in a clearing in the village of Chimudomba in eastern Zambia, a group of ten mothers and their babies and toddlers sit on mats. 

Margret Zimba is beginning her lesson with the women. As a warm-up and review of previous lessons, she started by singing a song with the women in their native language. “How many times should a child eat per day?” the song simultaneously asks and teaches. The women clap and dance while singing. It’s an easy way to get a simple but important message across to the mothers.

Zimba lives in the village and received training to be a volunteer nutrition leader from the Mawa program, run by U.S.-based Catholic Relief Services. Mawa operates with funds from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), a major way our federal government carries out its response to hunger and poverty overseas. 

If a mother eats well, it’s easier to deliver her child … you find a difference even in the children

Margaret Zimba speaking in the village of Chimudomba in eastern Zambia

Mothers and Children Surviving and Thriving

With the help of leaders like Zimba, women are learning about good nutrition for their children from pregnancy until age 2. They are learning the importance of good nutrition in a child’s first 1,000 days.

Giving children enough food and nutrients early in life is a proven way to prevent problems such as stunted growth, learning problems, and poor health, which can affect people for a lifetime. 

Good nutrition is also important for pregnant mothers. Every year, thousands of women in developing countries die during childbirth. “If a mother eats well, it is easier to deliver a child, and they are not going to lose a lot of blood during delivery,” Zimba explains. “You find a difference even in the children when the mother eats well during her pregnancy.”

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Keeping People Alive and Healthy

What Mawa teaches is the business of keeping people alive and healthy. It’s critical in places like this village, where most families are subsistence farmers. During the “hunger season” in February and March — before new crops are harvested but after the previous year’s crops have run out — these families sometimes experience severe malnutrtion.

On this day, Zimba is giving the fifth lesson in a series of 12 in the village. Today’s lesson will include a cooking demonstration. She teaches that just as adults in the village usually eat a variety of foods, young children’s rapidly growing bodies need as balanced diet as well, but a baby can’t chew foods like peanuts, which are high in protein. Zimba demonstrates how to grind up peanuts and black-eyed peas to add to the corn-based porridge normally given to children so they can get nutrients from different types of food. Zimba will return with the mothers to the mats later as they feed the new porridge mixture to their children in amounts based on their age.

Through this hands-on learning, mothers and babies are on the road to a better, healthier life.

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During the McGovern Hunger Summit at Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell, S.D., in mid-November, Cathy Brechtelsbauer got official recognition for the advocacy that many have admired for decades. The longtime Bread member received the McGovern South Dakota Hunger Ambassador Award for her efforts to spark systemic changes that address the root causes of poverty.

“She exemplifies what it means to put together passion and a big heart,” said Michael Troutman, who oversees Bread’s Midwest donor relations, and who presented the award to Brechtelsbauer.

While Brechtelsbauer was recognized for advocacy, she’s really a gifted storyteller whose talents span visual arts, plays, and music. During her 39-year involvement with Bread, her narratives have helped to educate the public and advance causes that drive the organization’s values.

Her credits include the song “Justice Means,” which has been used at Bread workshops. It starts:  
“Justice means that all are fed and everyone will have their bread, a place to lay their heads.” And there’s the play she wrote during the campaign on developing world debt that’s been performed in numerous churches. The plot is inspired by the Bible’s jubilee theme of debt forgiveness, and some of the main characters are indebted farmers from developing countries.

A visual display she was once part of has had a lasting impact for South Dakota’s children in need. In the early 1990’s, Brechtelsbauer led a group that wrapped a half-mile chain of 13,000 paper dolls around the state capitol building in Pierre to draw attention to the 13,000 children who were denied a cost-of-living increase under the Aid to Families with Dependent Children Program. (The program is now called Temporary Assistance for Needy Families following welfare reform in 1996.)

At first, the state’s government ignored the spectacle. Undeterred, the following year, Brechtelsbauer, who serves as Bread’s state coordinator in South Dakota, positioned the dolls along a CROP Walk route. The display motivated the Sioux Falls Ministerial Association to write the governor’s office to get the kids in the budget. Since then, the state’s cost-of-living increases have usually included the children.

Brechtelsbauer is Lutheran (ELCA). The passion for her work is driven by the call for justice in the Gospel. “You hear the Bible say, ‘Do justice,’ but you don’t have a handle on how to do it,” she said. “I think Bread for the World gives you a way to work for justice.” She continued, “I feel like it’s a faith calling. You’re kind of on God’s wave length when you’re working on hunger. It helps you get God’s agenda to be part of your own agenda.”

Currently, Brechtelsbauer’s efforts have expanded to payday lending. She’s part of an attempt to force a ballot initiative in the general election that will cap interest on such loans at 36 percent. The state average is 574 percent. “There’s a reason we call this predatory,” she said.

Even as Brechtelsbauer gears up for new challenges, she wrestles with old ones too, like working to get food exempt from the state sales tax. After many years of including a cost-of-living increase for children in the state budget, it was dropped in 2015. She’s working to have it restored next year. But these setbacks don’t discourage her. “I feel like we’re not necessarily called to have success. But we are called to be faithful.”

Marc Hopkins is a writer living in Silver Spring, Md.

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A new study commissioned by Bread for the World Institute shows that last year alone, hunger and food insecurity increased health expenditures in the United States by $160 billion. The study is highlighted in the Institute’s new report, The Nourishing Effect: Ending Hunger, Improving Health, Reducing Inequality.

“Nowhere are the hidden costs of hunger and food insecurity greater than in health care,” said Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World. “Access to nutritious food is essential to healthy growth and development, and can prevent the need for costly medical care. Many chronic diseases — the main causes of poor health as well as the main drivers of healthcare costs — are related to diet.”

Food insecurity is associated with higher rates of depression, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and other physical and mental health conditions. Food assistance programs such as SNAP (formerly known as food stamps) and school lunches save money in the long run by improving educational and health outcomes.

Government resources that could go toward programs such as early childhood education or reducing the national debt are instead spent in emergency rooms and hospitals to offset the costs of hunger and food insecurity. The $160 billion is equivalent to more than a third of the U.S. government’s annual deficit.

The study was carried out by John Cook of Boston Medical Center and Children’s HealthWatch, and Ana Paula Poblacion of Universidade Federal de São Paulo in Brazil.

“The old adage that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure has never been more appropriate,” said Asma Lateef, director of Bread for the World Institute. “Investments in federal nutrition programs are critical and much more needs to be done to ensure that vulnerable and underserved communities have access to healthy foods.”

Ending hunger and food insecurity will allow millions of people to do better in school, be more productive at work, and live healthier lives. The Nourishing Effect offers recommendations for healthcare providers, anti-hunger advocates, and policymakers to help make a healthier, hunger-free U.S. a reality.

Hunger and food insecurity have increased health expenditures in the United States by $160 billion in recent years

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“Nowhere are the hidden costs of hunger and food insecurity greater than in health care,” said Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World. “Access to nutritious food is essential to healthy growth and development, and can prevent the need for costly medical care. Many chronic diseases — the main causes of poor health as well as the main drivers of healthcare costs — are related to diet.”

Food insecurity is associated with higher rates of depression, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and other physical and mental health conditions. Food assistance programs such as SNAP (formerly known as food stamps) and school lunches save money in the long run by improving educational and health outcomes.

Government resources that could go toward programs such as early childhood education or reducing the national debt are instead spent in emergency rooms and hospitals to offset the costs of hunger and food insecurity. The $160 billion is equivalent to more than a third of the U.S. government’s annual deficit.

The study was carried out by John Cook of Boston Medical Center and Children’s HealthWatch, and Ana Paula Poblacion of Universidade Federal de São Paulo in Brazil.

“The old adage that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure has never been more appropriate,” said Asma Lateef, director of Bread for the World Institute. “Investments in federal nutrition programs are critical and much more needs to be done to ensure that vulnerable and underserved communities have access to healthy foods.”

Ending hunger and food insecurity will allow millions of people to do better in school, be more productive at work, and live healthier lives. The Nourishing Effect offers recommendations for healthcare providers, anti-hunger advocates, and policymakers to help make a healthier, hunger-free U.S. a reality.

The post New Report Exposes Hidden Costs of Hunger in Health Care appeared first on Bread for the World.

[Note: this article appears in Bread’s 2015 November-December newsletter]

Across Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, the 2014-2015 Ebola crisis affected hundreds of thousands of families. Husbands lost wives, children lost parents, and communities lost entire families to the deadly disease. While Ebola brought an unprecedented health epidemic, it also gave rise to a less visible crisis — a food crisis.

“We were stigmatized as ‘the Ebola people,’” said Respect*, a 28-year-old living in Montserrado County, Liberia. “I was unable to sell anything I grew in the market.”

Respect described how Ebola hit her community during the early summer of 2014, and how it was one of the first to be affected by what would soon take thousands of lives throughout the region. In Respect’s village, after a pregnant woman died from what was thought to be complications from an abortion, and after her family performed a traditional burial ceremony, it was discovered that she had in fact died from Ebola. The virus spread rapidly through Respect’s community, taking 18 lives.

Over the course of the Ebola crisis, Respect’s village was quarantined more than 10 times. Moreover, Respect, along with the rest of her community, was stigmatized and unable to sell anything in the market. As time went on, borders closed, food prices rose, markets were further disrupted, and food became less accessible to the most vulnerable households. Some families were forced to eat seeds normally used for planting or sell their tools to buy food.

Getting relief

Thanks to a USAID Office of Food for Peace project implemented by Mercy Corps, thousands of Ebola-affected communities received much-needed assistance. Families received cash transfers to purchase food, and agricultural input vouchers to replace seeds and tools to restart planting.

Respect used the cash to buy basic food items and the vouchers to plant peppers in her home garden. Grateful for USAID’s assistance, Respect said she is excited to start her own business and sell her peppers to provide for herself and her household.

The one-year, $9 million project, which began in January 2015, aims to help more than 150,000 people in Liberia recover from the economic impacts of the Ebola outbreak. Across the region, USAID and its partners are boosting household purchasing power to help vulnerable families buy food and other essential items they need to get back on their feet.

After months of uncertainty and despair due to Ebola, families are restarting their livelihoods, children are back in school, and communities are rebuilding to be stronger than before.

*Last name withheld to protect privacy. This article first appeared on the USAID website.

Photo: Respect shows off her newly grown peppers planted with seeds provided through USAID. Mette Karlsen/USAID.

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The Bible on Health and Hunger offers a brief examination of the biblical approach to health as a hunger issue, including an introduction to the issue, a Scriptural reflection, practical actions you can take, and a prayer.

The post The Bible on Health as a Hunger Issue appeared first on Bread for the World.

Earlier this year, we reported that Africa had gone six months without a case of wild polio.  The continent is now celebrating the first anniversary of its last recorded case (a toddler in the Puntland region of northern Somalia, who had received his first immunization but missed later ones).

Nigeria was the final key to reducing polio cases to zero. It was one of the “final four” countries where the virus was endemic. Twice, the polio virus was re-introduced into Somalia from Nigeria after polio-free periods as long as six years.

The World Health Organization does not certify that polio has been eradicated on a continent until there have been no new cases for three years, so Africa will not celebrate that final victory until early 2018. But the first year is the most challenging of the three.

African countries overcame daunting obstacles to reach this point, including:

• armed conflict that made it extremely difficult to immunize babies and toddlers in disputed territory
• weak record-keeping that kept health officials guessing as to whether they had reached every child born since the last vaccination campaign
• crowded refugee camps that combined ideal conditions for transmitting the virus with constantly shifting populations
• poor or nonexistent transportation routes — some remote areas of the continent are inaccessible, by either land or sea, for several months of the year

Polio, like other deadly diseases, is more dangerous to children who are malnourished. The majority of hunger-related deaths are caused by diseases that attack people with immune systems weakened by malnutrition. Most of those who die of polio are younger than 5.

Eradicating polio would save the world $40 billion to $50 billion in the two decades following eradication. This is money that could be spent on ending hunger and extreme poverty. Most of the savings — 85 percent — would be in low-income countries.

“With Africa now on track, we are left with only two countries where polio transmission has never been interrupted: Pakistan and Afghanistan,” said Peter Crowley, polio chief for UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund. “Here too, despite enormous challenges, communities, governments and partners are working with courage and determination to end polio once and for all.”

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Nearly two hours. The Senate Finance Committee on July 21 spent nearly two hours talking about expired tax benefits. Many items came up during those two hours: biodiesel, conservation easements, stationary fuel cells, bonus depreciation, how much extending tax credits retroactively actually incentivizes behavior, and the need to make many of these tax credits permanent.

What didn’t come up? The two tax credits that prevent more people from falling into poverty than any other program in the United States, outside of Social Security. The only two tax credits that specifically benefit low-income working families. The two tax credits that have been proven to get more parents into the workforce, improve test scores among children, and help families move into the middle class.

What tax credits didn’t come up in those two hours? The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC).

Just like the other tax breaks discussed during the committee’s markup of a bill to extend certain expired tax provisions, Congress must act to prevent key provisions of the EITC and CTC from expiring. Just like some of the other tax breaks discussed during the markup, these credits — with their recent improvements — should be made permanent.

True, these improvements don’t expire until 2017, but senators repeatedly spoke up about how certain credits should become permanent. They talked eloquently about how businesses need certainty. But no one said a peep about making the current EITC and CTC benefits permanent. No one talked about certainty for low-income working families, struggling to put food on the table and making ends meet.

Unlike the other tax credits that were discussed, the EITC and CTC don’t affect foreign pensions. They don’t affect fisheries in the American Samoa. And they don’t reward companies for capital investment.

Many of the tax benefits in the markup bill are good.  But this is about priorities. And as long as we’re talking about prioritizing bonus depreciation for capital investment, then we also should prioritize preventing 16.4 million people, including 7.7 million children, from falling into or deeper into poverty. We should prioritize preventing 50 million Americans from losing some or all of their EITC or CTC. This is what will happen if Congress fails to continue the EITC and CTC improvements.

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), a real EITC and CTC champion (and Bread for the World Lobby Day award recipient), got called away during the bill’s markup. He planned to introduce an amendment to make the 2009 EITC and CTC improvements permanent. But with his absence, no other senator raised the subject.

Are you outraged over the silence around the EITC and CTC? Then take a moment to email your senators.

Take Action on this Issue      Learn more

Amelia Kegan is deputy director of government relations at Bread for the World.

Photo: Heather Rude-Turner, reading to her son Isaac, depends on the Earned Income Tax Credit to help support her family. Laura Elizabeth Pohl/Bread for the World.

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“As people get older, they should be focusing on spending time with their loved ones and enjoying their golden years. After a lifetime of contributing to society, older Americans should not have to worry about where their next meal is going to come from,” said Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World.

The leading causes of death among older Americans are cancer and heart disease. Food-insecure older Americans report more cases of heart-related conditions than their food-secure peers do. They are also 60 percent more likely to experience clinical depression. Food insecurity diminishes the nutrition intake of older adults by limiting the food options available to them. This is more pronounced in populations also facing poverty and racial inequality.

“Programs like SNAP, beyond buffering beneficiaries from food insecurity, afford the older population the option to eat healthier. However, participation rates in such programs among the older population remain low—especially among those aged 60 to 69,” said Beckmann. “Low participation rates are attributed to the stigma that unfortunately persists with such programs.”

Income inequality is also present and growing as the country’s oldest population grows. With the pressure of poverty and food insecurity, older Americans must find ways to address health issues, which are more prevalent as people age. Programs like SNAP (formerly food stamps) are crucial in breaking the harmful cycles of undernutrition and health problems among older Americans.

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By Cameron Kritikos

A few days before Thanksgiving, the Food Recovery Network at Calvin College, as well as many other hunger-focused groups on campus, gathered and decided to host a Bread for the World Offering of Letters.

Our purpose was to get students to write letters to our Michigan lawmakers, including U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, the state’s junior senator. As the chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, Stabenow is a critical voice when it comes to making laws that can help end hunger. The committee has jurisdiction over SNAP (formerly food stamps).

At Calvin College, students involved with the Food Recovery Network retrieve leftover food from the dining hall and  donate it to local food banks or church congregations that serve nightly meals.

With last spring being our first semester recovering food, my leadership team and I wanted to be more intentional about seeking food justice at the systemic level. Calvin students are beginning to do this by watching documentaries, such as A Place at the Table, and writing letters.

I got involved with food justice because I was utterly fed up with the way in which people who are struggling financially are treated in this country, especially those who benefit from SNAP. We have brothers and sisters here in Grand Rapids who not only do not have the financial capital to purchase groceries, but also live in areas where grocery stores are scarce.

Once you know…

Hunger is a problem, and at Calvin College, we are no longer going to ignore it. We can’t.

I have a friend who has a sticker on her laptop, one that inspires me. It’s a quote from William Wilberforce, the English politician and abolitionist. It reads: “You may choose to look the other way but you can never again say that you did not know.”

Those involved with the Food Recovery Network at Calvin College can no longer say that we did not know. We no longer have the luxury of living in ignorant bliss. Instead, we have been called to live faithfully on the front lines of food justice, fighting the cause in this country and throughout the world.

And we will do it one plate of mashed potatoes and one handwritten letter at a time.

Cameron Kritikos is a sophomore at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich. He is studying international development, Spanish, and church-based community development.

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Many children suffer from nutritional deficiencies, sometimes referred to as “hidden hunger” since they can cause serious health problems in children who don’t “look hungry.” Nutrition affects mental health and academic achievement as well as physical health. But the damage caused by food insecurity is unnecessary and preventable. Federal nutrition programs help millions of children eat well; these programs must be maintained and strengthened to provide more eligible children with healthier food.

When Congress reauthorizes child nutrition programs in 2015, the emphasis must be on enabling programs to serve all eligible children well — from WIC for infants, to meals at daycare for preschoolers, to school lunch, breakfast, and summer food for elementary and secondary students. The United States simply cannot afford the consequences of allowing children to go without the nutritious food they need. Strong child nutrition programs must be a top national priority.

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“In one of the world’s wealthiest nations, hunger is not only preventable and morally unacceptable; it is expensive, resulting in hundreds of billions of dollars in healthcare costs each year,” said Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World. “We applaud ProMedica and the Alliance to End Hunger for bringing this issue to the forefront and holding lawmakers and private industry responsible for finding solutions.”

Nearly one in six U.S. households faces hunger, and studies have shown long-term health consequences from hunger. Healthcare reform has motivated healthcare providers to place more of an emphasis on prevention and wellness, and preventing hunger is tantamount. As featured in Bread for the World Institute’s 2014 Hunger Report: Ending Hunger in America, ProMedica has set out to recast hunger as a healthcare priority, on par with fighting illnesses like diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.

The purpose of Thursday’s event is to persuade more lawmakers and healthcare industry leaders to champion anti-hunger initiatives by making connections among reducing hunger, improving health outcomes, and lowering healthcare costs. In an effort to form creative, effective collaborations and encourage federal legislation to protect anti-hunger programs, Beckmann will join other experts in speaking on hunger and health, including Kevin Concannon, Under Secretary, U.S. Department of Agriculture; Deborah Frank, M.D., Professor of Child Health and Well-Being, Boston University School of Medicine, and Founder of Children’s Health Watch; Ken Thorpe, Chairman, Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease; and Ravi Sachdev, Managing Director, Healthcare Coverage, J.P. Morgan.

“U.S. hunger is a far-reaching problem that we believe must be confronted from multiple angles, with healthcare organizations, social service agencies, and government leaders all working together,” said Randy Oostra, D.M., FACHE, President and Chief Executive Officer of ProMedica. “This summit, part of our Come to the Table advocacy initiative, is the next of many steps in achieving this collaborative effort nationally.” 

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Globally, substantial progress has been made toward many MDG targets — including cutting in half the proportion of people living in poverty. Every major region of the world made progress. The targets for MDG 1 are to cut in half the proportion of people living with hunger and poverty by December 2015. The poverty target has been met. The hunger target has not, yet it is within reach if all countries are willing to do their part.

Progress against malnutrition has been too slow. Globally, one in four children is stunted. The United States should provide leadership and work within the global community to forge a universal set of global development goals to succeed the MDGs. These goals should include a stand-alone goal to end hunger and achieve food security and good nutrition, and they should advance women’s economic empowerment, community resilience, and effective institutions.

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Now is the time to strengthen U.S. leadership by systematizing nutrition within development assistance. The existing operational structure is fragmented and complex, while funding to scale up nutrition remains inadequate. Action on five fronts is needed: an overarching nutrition strategy with a transparent budget; a high-level nutrition focal point; increased capacity in Washington and the field; harmonized nutrition guidance; and strengthened monitoring.

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Produced by Bread for the World Institute

No. 219

March-April 2012

In the last few years, there has been an unprecedented global effort to improve maternal and child nutrition. The effort is driven by the growing recognition that malnutrition during the period from pregnancy to a child’s second birthday causes devastating and largely irreversible damage. Young children are simply much more vulnerable to malnutrition than older kids or adults. But the flip side is that pregnancy to age 2 is truly a “window of opportunity.” Ensuring that young children are well nourished has a dramatic impact on their whole lives — better
health, greater achievement in school, and higher lifetime earnings.

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Nutrition has been an issue neglected for far too long, so the recent attention to maternal and child nutrition creates a unique opportunity to make progress. Scaling up and making meaningful, measurable progress against malnutrition will require both additional resources and new ways of working. It will mean supporting national nutrition strategies that are country-owned and -driven, ensuring coordination across sectors to improve nutrition outcomes, and investing in human and institutional capacity to scale up at the global and country levels. Leveraging linkages among nutrition, health, and agriculture sectors can signifi cantly increase the benefi ts of nutrition investments.

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More than 100 country governments and civil society organizations have signed on to the Scaling Up Nutrition Movement, which supports efforts to expand effective nutrition programs to undernourished pregnant women and young children. Reducing maternal and child malnutrition is a key priority of the U.S. government’s Feed the Future and Global Health initiatives.

There are opportunities to reform food aid to better align it with the objectives of these two programs. The U.S. Government Accountability Office has reported on inefficiencies in U.S. food aid procurement and distribution, while Tufts University has released an important study of ways to improve the nutritional quality of food aid. With debate on the next farm bill beginning, now is the time to improve this essential program.

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Over the past decade, the MDGs have become in many ways the most accessible set of global benchmarks — embraced by governments, civil society actors, grassroots and youth-focused groups, and celebrities alike.

However, progress on the MDGs as a whole is a mixed bag, particularly in Africa, where many of the MDG targets will not be met. For most of the past decade, global hunger has steadily increased, particularly in 2008-2009 as a food price crisis emerged in tandem with the global economic downturn. One of the most important requirements for progress on the MDGs is clear leadership at the country level, including the integration of the goals into national planning.

With a focused strategy, based on measurable results, the United States can redouble its efforts to accelerate progress on the MDGs.

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The Obama administration’s initiative to fight hunger offers an opportunity to improve nutrition of mothers and children around the world. In addition to the focus on increasing agricultural productivity and raising rural incomes, the administration should scale up nutrition interventions and integrate nutrition into its development programming. It should use improvements in maternal and child nutrition as a key indicator of success. It should support country-led strategies, coordinate with other donors and ensure that U.S. actions and policies do not undermine nutrition objectives.

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Developed countries have agreed to establish a policy environment that does not undermine efforts for developing countries to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Goal Eight calls for developed countries to ensure greater coherence among an array of policies critical to achieving the MDGs. On policies related to trade, migration, and intellectual property rights, the United States and other rich countries are not living up to this agreement.

Improving its policies in trade, migration, and intellectual property rights would not only prove that the United States is fully committed to global development, but also would increase the effectiveness of U.S. foreign assistance.

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Developing nations face many barriers to achieving the MDGs, some unique and country-specific, others broadly shared. Common problems faced by fragile nations can be grouped into four areas: poor starting conditions; weak governance and institutions; conflict and instability; and environmental degradation.

To meet the MDGs and create a sustainable path to development, countries must adopt policies and programs to overcome these problems. Developed countries have a role to play in overcoming these barriers. Aid donors, particularly the United States, must ensure that development assistance is flexible enough to help countries address these challenges and meet the MDGs.

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