Make Global Nutrition and Food Access Top Priorities in U.S. Foreign Policy

By Lauren Simcic

Target: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

Goal: Add global nutrition and food access to the national agenda to fight the epidemic of worldwide malnutrition

Hunger is the result of  injustice, not a shortage of food. Today, twenty-five million children around the globe are malnourished due to food access issues. Malnutrition negatively effects proper physical and cognitive development. This leaves those with lesser access to education at an even higher vulnerability. Cognitive and physical development are essential for future success.

Each year, World Food Day has a theme. This year’s theme focuses on supporting agricultural cooperatives. This means giving small communities and villages the tools they need to become self-sufficient through agriculture. Providing farms with seeds, bulbs, access to water, and irrigation allows them to earn and strengthen the health of themselves and their families.

These solutions are extremely affordable, make a huge impact, and can be given on loan to communities. For these reasons it should not worry anyone that it will usurp from the services provided to US civilians. Call upon Secretary Clinton to make nutrition and improved access to food a priority for the agenda of World Food Day and beyond.

PETITION LETTER:

Dear Secretary Clinton,

It is imperative that the US add global nutrition to its agenda and on the top of the priority list. Twenty-five million children suffer from malnutrition worldwide. This is not as a result of a global shortage, it is a result of injustice and lack of access.

To me this is inexcusable as community agricultural solutions can easily be provided, lending to self-sufficiency. On World Food Day we remember that agricultural cooperatives are essential for bolstering global nutrition and health as a whole. Please incorporate this mode of operation into the US foreign policy approach on global health.

Also, let’s not ignore the fact that malnutrition negatively effects proper physical and cognitive development. This leaves those with lesser access to education at an even higher vulnerability. Cognitive and physical development are essential for future success. Please treat these twenty-five million children as you would your own and grant them with brighter futures through balanced nutrition.

Sincerely,

[Your Name Here]

Photo credit: Fotopedia.com