Children suffer the most in world food crisis

In a briefing today on the global food crisis, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), award winning actor Danny Glover and other experts discussed the increasingly negative impact of malnutrition on children.

According to the World Bank, and estimated 100 million people have been pushed into poverty in recent years, largely due to the rising food costs. Many families are substituting nutrient rich foods like meat with starchy, cheaper foods with little nutritional value. This under nutrition has large and lasting effects on children all over the world and needs to be brought to global attention, said Jackson Lee.

Glover, a member of the TransAfrica Forum, stressed the fact that malnutrition affects thousands of individuals in the global south as well has people in the United States. Congress should set the example and create a forum for discussion with the UN and get other international players involved to stop the hunger crisis around the world.

Over 850 million people in the world are chronically or acutely malnourished and over 300 million of those are children, according to the United Nations. The poor nutrition standards, expensive health care costs and the rising cost of food has made it impossible for many families to send their children to school and are barely making enough to feed them once a day. The members of the briefing today, stressed the need for the United States and others to get involved and help end the crisis by providing money and a comprehensive agricultural development all over the world.