Dear editor,

It is morally unthinkable to let our children to go hungry, yet in 2020, nearly 150 million children under five were stunted (too short for their age), and over forty-five million were affected by wasting (too thin for their height). These types of severe malnutrition indicate that a child has not received adequate calories and nutrients to grow and develop to their full potential.

We know how to help, but we are not doing all that we can. Less than one percent of total global official development assistance goes toward nutrition. Now, the COVID-19 pandemic, war in Ukraine, and the global food price crisis have only made the state of global nutrition more dangerous.

The bipartisan Global Malnutrition Prevention and Treatment Act of 2021 (S.2956) better positions USAID, our country’s main international development agency, to maximize its resources for high-impact, proven, and affordable interventions. These include providing 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. We must act quickly to save young lives. Please call on Senators Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott to speak to leadership, bring the bill to the floor and vote to pass S. 2956, the Global Malnutrition Prevention and Treatment Act.

Mary Lash

Piedmont, S.C.