Letter: Hungry children are caught in a perfect storm
The world is experiencing a perfect storm — pandemic, war in Ukraine destroying harvests and global inflation jacking up food prices — that's left millions of parents unable to feed their children.
In 2020, nearly 150 million children under 5 were stunted (too short), and over 45 million were wasting (too thin ) due to inadequate calories and nutrients for growing and developing.
We know how to help, but less than 1% of total global development dollars go toward nutrition.
The bipartisan Global Malnutrition Prevention and Treatment Act of 2021 (S. 2956) has passed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which is great news. This better positions USAID to maximize its resources for high-impact, proven, and affordable interventions, including prenatal vitamins, breastfeeding support, vitamin A supplementation for young kids, and emergency therapeutic foods to treat life-threatening severe malnutrition.
The U.S. must provide leadership on this urgent need in the world. Time is of the essence. We call on Senators Pat Toomey and Bob Casey to step up, and bring the bill to the floor and vote to pass S. 2956.
Betsy Teutsch, chapter leader
Together Women Rise/Results Philadelphia
This article originally appeared on The Intelligencer: Letter: Hungry children are caught in a perfect storm
