Did you know that one in nine people worldwide – 805 million people – suffers from chronic hunger?

Yeah. That’s not cool.

On Tuesday, the bipartisan Global Food Security Act of 2015 (H.R 1567) was introduced in the US House of Representatives. The Global Food Security Act (or ‘GFSA’ as we like to call it) is all about tackling hunger and the underlying causes of malnutrition.

The bill has already attracted the support of some major food security champions including Representatives Christopher H. Smith (R-NJ), Betty McCollum (D-MN), Edward R. Royce (R-CA), Eliot L. Engel (D-NY), Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE), Karen Bass (D-CA), Ander Crenshaw (R-FL), Rosa L. DeLauro (D-CT), David G. Reichert (R-WA), Adam Smith (D-WA), Erik Paulsen (R-MN), David N. Cicilline (D-RI) and James P. McGovern (D-MA).

The United States has long been a leader in improving global food and nutrition security and fighting extreme poverty. GFSA helps maintain US leadership by building upon the current program known as “Feed the Future.”

Feed the Future has worked to increase crop production for more than 7 million small scale farmers and reaches 12.5 million children with key nutrition programs.

So what exactly will the Global Food Security Act do?

• Develop a comprehensive food security strategy that reduces global poverty, hunger, and malnutrition, particularly among women and children

• Coordinate efforts across federal departments and agencies to ensure that the right people are talking to each other

• Support countries as they create national plans for food security

• Focus on nutritional outcomes for women and children, particularly in the first 1,000 day window of opportunity between a woman's pregnancy and her child's second birthday

• Put in place strong reporting, oversight and accountability measures

• Invest just over $1 billion for fiscal year 2016 to carry out the strategy

Has this inspired you yet?

Chairman Ed Royce who leads the House Foreign Affairs Committee explained at the reception on Tuesday night that, “these changes aren’t going to come without you pushing for them.” Get involved now by signing the petition in the Take Action button.

Editorial

Defeat Poverty

Global Food Security Act introduced in Congress!

By Judith Rowland