IYCN praises Roadmap for US Leadership to End Global Hunger

March 2009

A Roadmap for US Leadership to End Global Hunger was published in February 2009 by a broad-based coalition of nongovernmental organizations, advocacy groups, and religious organizations calling for the Obama administration and Congress to work together with the international community to cut global hunger in half by 2015.

IYCN praises the coalition for including nutrition programs as one of four main components of the Roadmap’s comprehensive strategy to prevent and alleviate global hunger. Other elements of the coalition’s balanced strategy include emergency response and management; safety nets, social protection and disaster risk reduction; and market-based agriculture and infrastructure development. It is essential for hunger and food security policies to include nutrition strategies because increasing access to food is not enough to prevent malnutrition for children. Even when kids have adequate food, they may not be eating enough food or a variety of foods frequently enough to keep them healthy. That is why programs that promote good nutrition practices, like exclusive breastfeeding and optimal complementary feeding, should go hand in hand with efforts to support agricultural development and food assistance.

Download A Roadmap for US Leadership to End Global Hunger.