Experts Call For U.S. Leadership, Funding To Prevent Global Food Crisis; Additional 10M Children Face Acute Malnutrition Amid Pandemic, WFP Warns

Roll Call: Experts fear worsening global food crisis if U.S. does not lead
“With global hunger projected to increase dramatically this year as a consequence of the coronavirus pandemic, humanitarian relief experts are calling on the U.S. government to play a leadership role in ensuring that global food supply lines remain open. … Foreign aid organizations want Congress to include $12 billion in additional international assistance in the next coronavirus emergency spending bill it sends to the president. But even more than monetary assistance, U.S. leadership is needed to discourage other countries from erecting trade barriers to agricultural exports and to keep global supply lines running, these groups told CQ Roll Call…” (Oswald, 5/20).

The Telegraph: Ten million more children facing acute malnutrition due to pandemic
“The coronavirus pandemic could push an additional 10 million children into acute malnutrition, according to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). The numbers of young children suffering from malnutrition — a life-threatening lack of the nutrients needed to grow and develop — could rise by 20 percent as a result of the outbreak, the WFP said. Already, one in four children under five years old globally experience stunted growth as a result of malnutrition, or around 151 million. Malnutrition is the cause of almost half of all deaths for under-fives…” (Rigby, 5/20).

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