Bread for the World continues to draw attention to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on hunger, malnutrition, and food insecurity, both in the United States and around the world. Bread has called for measures to increase equity, including equitable access to vaccines, in pandemic and post-pandemic responses.

Experts say that the United States will be coping for years to come with the impacts of delayed medical care during the height of the pandemic. We saw hospitals filled beyond capacity with COVID patients, resources and staff shifted to respond to the emergency. As conditions become more like those of the pre-pandemic era, the U.S. healthcare system must respond to a backlog of postponed minor and sometimes major surgeries, along with millions of people struggling with long COVID, a condition still poorly understood.

The consequences that may prove most important in the years to come, however, may be the impacts of hundreds of millions of missed routine screenings for early detection, appointments for treatment of chronic conditions, doses of prescription medications that people couldn’t obtain or afford, and progression of undiagnosed medical problems that people developed during quarantine. Only time will uncover the cumulative impacts.

Lower-income countries, including those with fewer cases of COVID than neighboring countries, face all of these problems as well—but with far fewer resources to implement solutions. Many governments and healthcare providers in Africa last faced decisions of such consequence to so many human lives during the worst of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the 1990s.

Bread is particularly concerned about one of the most urgent problems: missed vaccinations against childhood diseases. Quarantine mandates and other restrictions, while meant to slow the transmission of COVID-19, also created an enormous gap in protection from preventable diseases. This threatens to exacerbate the impacts of hunger for millions of children. Unvaccinated children, particularly those already struggling with malnutrition, are at enormous risk right now.

Because malnourished children have greatly weakened immune systems, they struggle to fight off childhood diseases and other conditions that most healthy children routinely recover from. Nearly half of all preventable deaths among children under age 5 are due to malnutrition, largely because illnesses and infections are far more dangerous. Children with severe acute malnutrition, a condition that calls for immediate medical attention and treatment with special therapeutic foods, are nine times as likely to die as well-nourished children with the same illness.

In May 2020, WHO announced that at least 80 million children not yet a year old were at risk of missing life-saving vaccinations.

The Lancet reported that rates of vaccination against childhood diseases dropped steeply almost immediately after COVID-19 became a global pandemic. In April 2020, one-third fewer doses of DPT3 vaccine were administered. Moreover, this global average obscures wide regional disparities, including a drop of 57 percent in doses given in Southeast Asia. DPT3 stands for the third dose of Diphtheria, Pertussis, Tetanus vaccine—particularly important because three doses are given in the first year of life to provide full protection.

A sharp drop in rates of vaccinations against measles is perhaps even more alarming. In 2021, a record high of 40 million children missed either their first or second dose of measles vaccine—both essential for protection. “Herd immunity” requires 95 percent coverage. In 2021, the two-dose global coverage rate was 71 percent.

Healthcare systems around the world are making efforts to catch up, with results that vary by country.  But the record number of children not protected against measles “shows the profound damage immunization systems have sustained during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

The global community should make vaccination “catch-up strategies” a high priority and help bolster national efforts. Identifying children who are most likely to have missed coverage, who include rural children typically served by mobile vaccination clinics, is part of providing targeted catch-up services, services that are “essential to full recovery,” according to CDC’s statement of November 23, 2022.

Michele Learner is managing editor, Policy and Research Institute, with Bread for the World.

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Each year, several global food security organizations work together to publish The State of Food and Nutrition Security in the World (SOFI) report. This year’s report, covering calendar year 2020, was released July 12.

As Bread for the World has previously noted, global hunger rates, described in the report as the global prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity, have increased every year since 2014. But food insecurity grew far more quickly in 2020, a fact that is unlikely to surprise anyone. The global COVID-19 pandemic brought much of the world to a standstill for a large portion of 2020, causing enormous economic disruption. The increase in hunger is estimated to be similar to the total increase of the previous five years. 

By the end of 2020, then, the world’s several decades of progress in reducing the rate of hunger had been set back significantly but not entirely reversed. Up to 161 million people who had not faced hunger in 2019 were food insecure in 2020, bringing the global total to as many as 811 million people.

Malnutrition was virtually unchanged from 2014 until the onset of the pandemic, but the proportion of those affected, referred to in the report as the prevalence of undernourishment, climbed to approximately 9.9 percent in 2020, compared with 8.4 percent a year earlier.

Hunger rates increased most sharply in Africa, which added 46 million additional people to the number facing hunger. Africa now has a hunger rate twice that of any other region. It is also the only region with increasing numbers of children with long-term malnutrition (stunting). Asia and Latin America/Caribbean also have more people living with hunger, with increases of 57 million and 14 million, respectively.

The pandemic has put the world increasingly off-track to end hunger by 2030, with projections suggesting that 30 million additional people will face hunger in 2030. Only one-quarter of countries are on track to end malnutrition by 2030. About half of all children live in countries that are not on track. The gender hunger gap also increased in 2020, with women increasingly more likely to face hunger than men.

According to the SOFI report, the major causes of hunger—in addition to the pandemic—include underlying extreme poverty, barriers in the food system such as prices for nutritious foods that are too high for many families to afford, and the drivers of fragility, such as conflict and climate change, that Bread discussed in our 2017 Hunger Report, Fragile Environments, Resilient Communities.

The paths forward are familiar ones: scaling up efforts to strengthen resilience in climate-affected areas;    integrating humanitarian assistance, development programs, and peacebuilding efforts in areas where hunger is exacerbated by conflict; identifying ways to reduce the cost of nutritious foods; putting in place strong social protection programs for the most vulnerable people; and adopting and using effective approaches to promoting equity regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, religion, or other “identity” characteristics of individuals and communities.

Despite the many weaknesses and failures in the pandemic response thus far, there have also been innovative and successful efforts in a variety of local and national contexts. They underline the message that the world does know what to do and, of course, they show the immense impact that even relatively modest improvements in policies or programs can achieve. We can hope that as humanity confronts climate change and the likelihood of future pandemics, many more people will become advocates against hunger and other barriers to reaching the Sustainable Development Goals. This is the most life-affirming option in the face of all that individuals, families, cities, and wider regions have lost.

Michele Learner is managing editor with Bread for the World Institute.

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We usually think of U.S. development assistance as funding that the United States sends directly to another country. Bread advocacy generally focuses on winning policy improvements and budget increases for this country-to-country assistance, often called bilateral assistance. Over the years, Bread has worked with Congress and the administration to ensure that projects supported by bilateral assistance include ending hunger and malnutrition as a top priority.

In addition to legislative successes such as the passage and reauthorization of the Global Food Security Act (GFSA), which created Feed the Future, and winning funding increases for important development initiatives such as Child Survival, Bread advocates have lhelped create change within the executive branch. For example, the U.S. government adopted a “whole of government” nutrition strategy after Bread advocates and our partners made the case that early childhood nutrition impacts the entire course of a person’s life.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) manages most bilateral funding, allocating resources to projects in health, nutrition, education, and other sectors. These programs and funds are vital to Bread’s mission of ending hunger, malnutrition, and extreme poverty. In addition, the United States is a key donor and a leader in encouraging other countries to contribute bilateral assistance.

There is another, lower-profile type of U.S. development assistance that also advances Bread’s mission–“multilateral” assistance. Since bilateral assistance is between two countries, you might guess that multilateral assistance is among several countries, and you would be right. The United States is a member of several international financial institutions, usually called simply IFIs.

IFIs include, among others, the World Bank, the African Development Bank, and the International Fund for Agricultural Development. The United States and other donors invest funds in these institutions that are then pooled and made available to low- and middle-income countries in the form of grants or low-interest loans.

IFIs are important to the effort to end hunger since they are the largest source of international finance for many countries. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, IFIs have mobilized record levels of resources to support countries in responding to the health and economic consequences of the pandemic. As Bread has pointed out, surges in global hunger and malnutrition are among the pandemic’s most devastating impacts.

The World Bank, through its International Development Association (IDA), has the largest amount of lower-cost financin available to low-income countries. Since the food price crisis of 2008, IDA has more than tripled its annual financing for food security, from $2 billion to $6.8 billion in fiscal year 2020. Since the pandemic began, IDA has made new commitments of $5.3 billion for food security initiatives, and an additional $6.6 billion for food security is planned for this year.

Notably, half of these new resources will help meet immediate food needs, and half will go to efforts to build more lasting food security. If you’ve followed along with us at Bread for the World, you know that we believe both are necessary and we advocate for both.

IDA has also made available $500 million in “crisis response” funding, intended to help countries prepare for and respond to crises that develop more slowly than a sudden disaster. Hunger emergencies are usually crises that develop over time, not overnight. Hopefully, the funding will enable countries to respond to some crises in the making and thus avoid major catastrophes.

In addition to IDA, the World Bank also houses the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program, known by the acronym GAFSP. Established in response to the 2008 food price crisis, GAFSP pools donor resources for programs in food security, nutrition, and agriculture. The funding is in the form of either grants or low-cost loans made to governments, producer organizations, and civil society organizations. The U.S. component of GAFSP is Feed the Future. Since 2010, GAFSP has invested more than $1.6 billion in 39 countries. Since the global pandemic began, GAFSP has allocated nearly $60 million in additional funding to 15 countries to help them respond to hunger crises caused or exacerbated by the pandemic.

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), mentioned earlier, is a specialized agency of the United Nations. IFAD was established in the 1970s in response to that decade’s episodes of food shortages, malnutrition, and famine. IFAD is the only IFI devoted exclusively to transforming agriculture, including rural economies, and food systems. It works to make these sectors more inclusive, productive, resilient, and sustainable.

In 2020, IFAD launched a multi-donor COVID-19 Rural Poor Stimulus Facility. Begun with $40 million in seed funding, the facility is expected to raise at least $200 million from other donors. The funding will be used to help preserve the livelihoods and jobs of low-income, vulnerable rural people or, failing that, to enable them to recover more quickly. It does this by supporting agricultural production, access to financial and agricultural markets, and access to new jobs.

Two other important IFIs are the African Development Bank and the Asian Development Bank. Each has increased its funding commitments to respond to the pandemic. Along with the IFIs mentioned earlier, the two regional banks have invested in food security initiatives such as providing support for farmers to purchase seeds, livestock, and other necessities; giving families cash assistance to purchase food; distributing packages of food; and supporting food banks.

As the United States and other high-income countries with access to COVID-19 vaccines begin to emerge from the pandemic, Bread emphasizes the importance of global vaccine equity. The International Monetary Fund noted recently that recovery paths are starkly divergent for lower-income countries and households compared with wealthier nations. The IFIs need continued support from donors so they can continue to provide urgently-needed assistance to low- and middle-income countries. Such support is essential to preventing even higher levels of hunger and malnutrition, saving the lives of young children, and enabling countries to begin to recover from the economic devastation caused by the pandemic.

Jordan Teague is interim co-director, policy analysis and coalition building, with Bread for the World.

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As 2021 approaches the halfway mark, the United States is seeing some encouraging signs. The country has reached milestones in its COVID-19 vaccination efforts, particularly among elders. By early May, more than 35 percent of the U.S. population had been fully vaccinated, and this level could see a bump with the approval of vaccines for children ages 12 to 15, which had recently been announced at the time of writing.

We recognize that the overall numbers and percentages conceal wide variations by region, age, race, ethnicity, gender, income level, and other factors. In addition, 35 percent or 40 percent is far short of the vaccination levels thought to be needed to contain COVID-19 or “reach herd immunity” in this country. Still, it is a far cry from the situation of a year ago or six months ago.

We pointed out in an earlier piece that in a global pandemic of an infectious disease, quite literally no one is safe until everyone is safe. Global vaccine equity must therefore be a top priority as the world tries to recover.

Several other recent Bread for the World blog posts also discuss key issues as we move forward. Following up his piece on how the Child Tax Credit (CTC) expansion works to significantly reduce child poverty, Todd Post makes the case for a broader plan to invest in our country’s children, a “1,000 Days infrastructure.” Jordan Teague and Rahma Sohail wrap up their series on hunger in fragile contexts around the world with recommendations on reducing hunger while recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic. I recently wrote a piece on the urgent hunger crises, including three that are considered famines, that threaten children, particularly babies and toddlers, in the pandemic era.

While policymakers may understand on an intellectual level that global vaccine equity is absolutely necessary, they must now act on that knowledge—despite other priorities, distractions, worries about “political realities,” or anything else. If anyone needed a reminder that this is urgent, the headlines on the explosion of COVID-19 cases in India would supply that reminder.

The reported number is just under 400,000 new COVID infections per day, but researchers at the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) estimate the true number of new infections at 8 million daily. That is a new group the size of New York City’s entire population becoming infected every day.

By now, many details of the crisis in India are sadly familiar from accounts of other major waves of the pandemic. Few neighborhoods or extended families remain untouched. Families without many financial resources cannot afford to bury or cremate their dead. People in the Indian diaspora are urgently organizing to help hospitals facing shortages of the supplemental oxygen people with severe COVID need to survive.

Even beyond the unthinkable scale of tragedy in a country of nearly 1.4 billion, “India’s” second COVID-19 wave does not belong to India alone, and it will not stay there. Neighboring Nepal has already seen a surge in new infections. And although India is able to conduct genetic sequencing on only a tiny percentage of positive tests—meaning that variants and their spread can easily be missed—at least one variant of great concern to researchers has not only been identified, but has spread to 44 countries at last count.

Experts say that the crisis in India was predictable and more could have been done to prevent it. The Indian government has had a slow start to its vaccination efforts, but the governments of high-income countries could be doing better as well. For months, the U.S. government would not allow exports to India of raw materials needed to manufacture COVID-19 vaccines, and the United States also stockpiled millions of doses that were going unused because the FDA had not yet approved them.

“The pandemic has once again highlighted the extreme international inequality in access to lifesaving vaccines and drugs,” said Bina Agarwal, professor of development economics and environment at the University of Manchester, U.K.

The U.S. government is now sending essential supplies for vaccine production to India, and it has pledged to export the unused vaccine doses. In addition, Bread had urged the administration to make it easier for other nations to manufacture vaccines. We were heartened by the announcement in early May that because this is a dire emergency, the U.S. government will support waiving intellectual property restrictions for COVID-19 vaccines.

But as of May 12, less than 3 percent of India’s population had been fully vaccinated. Clearly, India’s people could not and cannot afford avoidable delays of any kind. And, since viruses don’t respect borders, people elsewhere in the world cannot afford them either.

Michele Learner is managing editor with Bread for the World Institute.  

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In Bread for the World’s advocacy, as we work to strengthen the anti-hunger movement one activist, small group, church, or community at a time, one message that is implied if not always stated is that ending hunger is “not only the right thing to do, it’s also the smart thing to do.”

For many or most Bread members, doing the right thing far outweighs other possible motivations. Policymakers, potential activists, and other Bread members, while unwavering in their belief that ending hunger is the right thing to do, may also welcome reassurance in the form of a list of reasons that it is also “smart”—and vitally important. Taking action to improve policies and make progress against hunger is what unites us.

We all realize that not everyone is persuaded by either or both lines of reasoning. Bread seeks to understand the main factors behind inaction so that advocates can respond in ways that may be persuasive. Virtually every member of this group will agree that hunger should not exist, and most also agree that hunger is needless, that the world has enough resources for everyone.  The objections, whether stated or unstated, often seem to be rooted in lack of urgency and/or cynicism: “It’s sad but it doesn’t affect me,” “I don’t think the world can end hunger—ever,” “We have urgent concerns here at home,” “Is it really a big problem?” It is as though they believe that nothing they do can make a difference—or enough of a difference to be worth the effort.  

The COVID-19 pandemic is different. An infectious disease that threatens everyone on the planet is not remote or abstract. Until a large percentage of the global population receives an effective vaccine, a resurgence is always possible. The first reported case of COVID-19 was November 29, 2019. By summer 2020, nearly every country in the world was reporting cases. Most exceptions were small, remote island nations. The United States can “build back better,” but the recovery cannot truly be a lasting one if groups of people, in this country or abroad, are left to try to contain COVID-19 without the tools they need, tools that are now available.

The most essential of these are safe and effective vaccines, particularly those that appear likely to protect against “variants,” mutations of the virus that are now dominant in some regions and that often prove to be even more infectious than the original.

 In February 2021, the U.K. medical journal The Lancet published hChallenges in ensuring global access to COVID-19 vaccines: production, affordability, allocation, and deployment.” Developing effective vaccines is, of course, an absolute necessity, but it is not enough to achieve global control of COVID-19. The Lancet report points out: “They also need to be produced at scale, priced affordably, allocated globally so that they are available where needed, and widely deployed in local communities.” The authors consider possible obstacles in each of these areas. They have also developed a dashboard in order to track the possible contributions to reaching global immunity, and the possible tradeoffs or disadvantages, of each vaccine in use now or newly approved.

Early on, in April 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) established a global vaccine allocation mechanism, the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access (COVAX) facility. Its objectives are to secure low vaccine prices using “pooled” procurement, and to provide all countries with access to a diversified portfolio of vaccines during the acute phase of the pandemic, particularly in 2021. Countries will be able to buy vaccines at prices that are subsidized by development assistance.

As of February 2021, governments and other partners have committed about $4 billion to COVAX. WHO and the Global Vaccine Initiative (GAVI) estimate that an additional $6 billion to $8 billion will be needed by the end of 2021. This will enable COVAX to procure and deliver 2 billion doses. They caution that if this funding is not available, there are 85 countries that will not have widely available vaccines against COVID-19 until 2023.

There are also a host of barriers to universal adult vaccination in many low-income and middle-income countries. In fact, as of 2018, 74 of the 194 WHO member states had no adult vaccination program for any disease. Less than 11 percent of the countries in Africa and South Asia reported having such a program. It will take time and resources to overcome logistical difficulties.

Protecting all people from COVID-19 is the right thing to do. It is the only way to contain the pandemic and put an end to the death, suffering, economic devastation, and myriad harmful secondary impacts the novel coronavirus continues to cause all over the world. Moreover, the resources needed are modest—compared both to other essential spending categories in higher-income countries, and to doing the right thing and the smart thing.

Michele Learner is managing editor with Bread for the World Institute.

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This is the fourth in a five-part series on transforming assistance to fragile contexts to end hunger.

Although Latin America has less than 10 percent of the global population, almost half of all COVID-19- related deaths have taken place there, and many of the low-income countries hit hardest in the first year of the pandemic are in Latin America.

Latin America soon emerged as an epicenter of the global pandemic despite the fact that COVID-19 cases did not appear in the region until much later than they were apparent in Europe and the United States.

A major reason for this is that the majority of Latin American countries faced myriad political and governance challenges before the COVID-19 pandemic struck. Corruption in government and low levels of both mandatory taxation levels and actual tax collection contributed to many problems that fueled the pandemic, particularly inadequate public health systems, very high levels of economic inequality, and poorly resourced public education systems.

In recent years, Venezuela has faced what some consider “the Americas’ greatest single humanitarian crisis.” The nation’s economy and political structure collapsed even though it possesses the world’s largest known petroleum reserves. More than 5 million people have now fled the country and an estimated 91 percent of those who remain live in poverty. Nearly a third of all Venezuelans—more than 9 million people— are food insecure or malnourished. These figures are expected to rise as the coronavirus continues to spread.

The dire pre-pandemic circumstances have exacerbated the death and suffering caused by COVID-19. 80 percent of Venezuela’s hospitals were understaffed and 60 percent were not equipped with basic necessities such as running water and reliable electricity.

For several years now, public protests have swept the country as people denounced the government’s poor policies and other shortcomings that led to an economic collapse and food shortages. In 2018, a disputed presidential election worsened the political situation. The Organization of American States, the European Union, and other international organizations declared that the result was not valid. 

According to a blog post from the U.S. Institute of Peace, the government has used the COVID-19 pandemic to oppress its critics; for example, quarantines that are necessary for public health are being used to “reestablish political and social control,” and the government is charged with concealing the true numbers of COVID-19 victims.

According to the International Crisis Group, Venezuela is now on the brink of a famine. Lines at public food distribution sites stretch for miles, clean water is scarce and medicine even scarcer. The country’s currency has been devalued so many times that it is worth almost to nothing, signaling surging rates of inflation. As early as the end of April 2020, inflation on food items had reached 251 percent. The only “option” for those who cannot find food in stores is to pay up to 10 times more on the black market, an impossibility for most.

In a further threat to food security, fuel shortages are preventing farmers from operating their equipment to plant crops. More than half of the agricultural land that produced crops in 2019 was projected to lie fallow in 2020. Some agricultural sectors are faring even worse—the dairy industry is working at just 12 percent of capacity and one in six sugar mills is currently operational.

Further problems in accessing essential supplies have been created by U.S. sanctions seeking to disrupt trade between Venezuela and Iran. U.S. sanctions on oil tankers traveling from Iran to Venezuela have caused the price of oil to increase by as much as 30 percent—this at a time when the pandemic caused global oil prices to fall to historic lows, and in a country rich in oil reserves.

The Venezuelan government has deployed the army to control rationing at gas stations across the country. Farmers wait hours in line for their insufficient rations of fuel, and those who can afford to buy more at exorbitant black market prices do this as well. The scarcity of fuel has repercussions further down the food supply chain as well—for example, produce often cannot be transported to distribution centers for lack of fuel.

Stay tuned to Institute Insights next month to wrap up this series on fragility with ways to move forward.

Jordan Teague is interim co-director, policy analysis and coalition building, and Rahma Sohail was the 2020 Crook fellow with Bread for the World Institute.

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March is Women’s History Month in the United States, and on March 8, the world observed International Women’s Day. First and foremost, gender equity is a critical component of respect for human rights. It is also essential for every country intent on building a more prosperous future, without hunger, malnutrition, or any of humanity’s many other longstanding problems. No community can meet its goals if half its people are blocked from using all their talents to help meet those goals.

It goes without saying that the COVID-19 pandemic has affected nearly all facets of life for women around the globe. But before I say anything more about the pandemic’s global impact, I want to celebrate a significant victory for children in the United States. Please see our recent blog post for the details of a particularly important provision of the recently passed American Rescue Plan—the expansion of the Child Tax Credit (CTC). It may not seem important at first glance, but experts expect that it will cut child poverty nearly in half.

For the past several years, Bread for the World members have been urging Congress to improve two tax provisions with the potential to help many more families living with food insecurity: the CTC and the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). The work of Bread’s grassroots advocates made a difference as a CTC expansion was included in the American Rescue Plan. Thank you and congratulations to all who supported improvements in the CTC and EITC!    

As the pandemic enters its second year, many people have paused to reflect on the enormous damage to virtually every country on Earth in only one year. In addition to the suffering of patients themselves and their families, even larger numbers have been forced to go without necessities as the global economy was brought nearly to a halt. Hundreds of millions of people lost their means of earning a living, whether that had been in a profession or job, or in the so-called “informal sector,” where people work as smallholder farmers, market women, tailors, midwives, and in many other capacities to sustain their communities and feed themselves and their families.

As noted most recently, another major impact of lockdowns and other restrictions imposed for public health reasons is that many people have been unable to access basic health care. This is particularly dangerous for young children, many of whom have missed screenings for malnutrition and immunizations against childhood diseases that remain deadly in many countries.

Recently we have also taken a look at the grim consequences of the pandemic for people living in situations that were already extremely difficult. In regions such as the Sahel, which stretches along the southern edge of Africa’s Sahara Desert, countries such as Burkina Faso and Niger had extremely high rates of child malnutrition during “normal” times, significant armed conflict, and frequent disasters linked to climate change.

In areas around the world that, like the Sahel, are severely affected by conflict and climate change, the pandemic has caused soaring rates of hunger and malnutrition. The number of people in acute hunger emergencies has more than doubled, to an estimated 271.8 million.

Women are facing particular hardships due to pervasive gender discrimination. The World Health Organization reports that in Africa, for example, the pandemic is worsening gender inequality and causing millions of women great physical, mental, and economic distress. The burdens of unpaid, labor-intensive household chores fall mainly on women, as does responsibility for caring for children. In many societies, this includes ensuring that children have food and clothing.

Women with small businesses have been hit hard. Oulimata Sarr, regional director of U.N. Women in West and Central Africa, said that the results of a study in 30 countries of 1,300 female-owned businesses found that, “The message is the same. We have lost the vast majority of our revenue.”

She added that some countries responded by giving women food and some cash transfers instead of capital to keep their businesses afloat, while in several countries, governments have given stimulus checks and packages to a number of well-organized business associations, most run by men. Sarr said that governments in the region need to respond to this gender financing gap.
 
There is much more that could be said about gender equity and hunger in the context of the pandemic, ranging from women’s higher rates of unemployment to persistent reports of significant increases in domestic violence. But as COVID-19 vaccine supplies begin to arrive in lower-income countries, and the people of many countries have become increasingly adept at protecting themselves and their families from being exposed to the virus, I prefer to look ahead to spring in the hope that this year, hundreds of millions of people will be able to take significant steps to a better life.

Michele Learner is managing editor with Bread for the World Institute.

The post A Year Later: Regaining momentum appeared first on Bread for the World.

The Circle of Protection sent a letter late last month to all members of Congress and key members of the Biden administration urging them to pass another round of COVID relief to address the “concurrent crises of the pandemic, economic recession, and systemic racism.” We also asked in the letter for members of Congress from both parties to work together to address the urgent needs of millions of Americans. 

“God calls on us to help those who are struggling, and right now the need is great,” said Rev. Eugene Cho, president and CEO of Bread for the World. “The American Rescue Plan will help to ease the burden on millions of struggling families and do more to reduce hunger and poverty among our nation’s children than any single policy has in decades.”

The Circle of Protection is a broad and unprecedented coalition of church and ministry leaders from the main families of U.S. Christianity — Catholic, evangelical Protestant, ecumenical Protestant, the Historic African American churches, and Latino churches — working to address issues of poverty and hunger through advocacy work. Together, the church bodies in the Circle of Protection have close to 100 million members. 

The post Bread Joins Christian Leaders in Welcoming Passage of American Rescue Plan appeared first on Bread for the World.

“We are thankful the Senate has joined the House of Representatives in passing this much-needed bill,” said Rev. Eugene Cho, president and CEO of Bread for the World. “The American Rescue Plan will help the millions of people who continue struggling to pay the bills and put food on the table. Just as importantly the bill will cut child poverty nearly in half – giving parents and children new hope and better opportunities.” 

Recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey reports that 1 in 7 families with children in the U.S. are not getting enough to eat because they cannot afford it. The UN World Food Program warns that 270 million people globally could face extreme hunger this year.

Bread supported many of the provisions in the bill that address hunger and poverty. These include the extensions of the 15 percent increase to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the pandemic unemployment insurance programs, the expansion of the Child Tax Credit (CTC), debt relief for Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers (Black, Latino, Indigenous, and others), and robust funding for the international COVID-19 response, among others.

“God calls us to meet the needs of those who are most vulnerable due to the impacts of hunger and poverty. The one-year expansion of the CTC will do more to reduce hunger among our nation’s children than any single policy has in decades,” added Cho. 

The post Bread Applauds Senate Passage of the American Rescue Plan COVID Relief Bill appeared first on Bread for the World.

“We thank the House of Representatives for passing the American Rescue Plan,” said Rev. Eugene Cho, president and CEO of Bread for the World. “People need help paying the bills and putting food on the table, and that is what this legislation will do. We hope the Senate does not make changes that would impact hurting families.” 

Recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey reports that nearly 1 in 6 families in the U.S. are not getting enough to eat because they cannot afford it. The UN World Food Program warns that 270 million people globally could face extreme hunger this year.

Bread is calling on Senators to keep the key provisions of the House-passed bill that address hunger and poverty. These include a 15 percent increase to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the pandemic unemployment insurance programs, expansion of the Child Tax Credit (CTC), debt relief for Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers (Black, Latino, Indigenous, and others), and funding for the international COVID-19 response, among others.

The one-year expansion of the CTC would reduce childhood poverty in the U.S. by nearly half and do more to reduce hunger among our nation’s children than any single policy has in decades.

“Even though we can finally see light at the end of the tunnel there is still a long way to go. Millions of families do not have enough to eat, and children are going to bed hungry,” added Cho. “As we work our way through these troubled times, we must continue to heed God’s call to care for the ‘least among us.’”  

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By Marlysa D. Gamblin and Kathleen King

The U.S. Department of Agriculture defines food insecurity as when a person or household does not have regular, reliable access to the foods needed for good health. Black, Indigenous, and Other People of Color (BIPOC) have historically had higher rates of food insecurity in the United States as a result of structural racism. Policies that reflect structural racism date back to the 1400s with the colonialization of Indigenous land and genocide of Indigenous people, followed by the enslavement of people of African descent, and continuing to this day.

Structural racism is a historical, cultural, institutional, and interpersonal system of hierarchy that routinely advantages white people, leading to cumulative and chronic racial inequities in all aspects of life for BIPOC, including food security.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, food insecurity affected communities of color at far higher rates: 24.2 percent of African American households, 22.6 percent of Indigenous households, 20.2 percent of Native Hawaiian households, 18.8 percent of Latino/a households, and 7.6 percent of white households, with a national average of 11.3 percent. In the months since the pandemic began, preliminary findings from the Urban Institute show that Latino/a and Black households are more than twice as likely to report being food insecure as white households—27.1 percent and 27 percent, respectively, compared to 13.5 percent for white households. Before the pandemic, food insecurity levels among female-headed households of color were also much higher than the national average of 11.3 percent—30 percent of households headed by Native Hawaiian women, 33.3 percent for African American women, 34.3 percent for Latinas, and 37.1 percent for Indigenous female-headed households.

Food insecurity and COVID-19 have a reciprocal relationship. Food insecurity compromises immune systems and creates health inequities, which increase the susceptibility to death among people who contract the virus. The racial food insecurity and health inequities created by structural racism among Black, Indigenous, and Other Households of Color contribute to the higher death rates among BIPOC who contract the virus. The reverse is also true: higher rates of contracting COVID-19 and dying from it increase food insecurity, since workers are more likely to have to take extended time off—usually unpaid—because either they or their family members are sick. At the same time, COVID-19 generates large, unexpected healthcare costs for Black, Indigenous, and Other Patients of Color, who are also more likely to lack health insurance. The death of a wage earner adds to the likelihood of food insecurity for his or her family members, often for many years.

The racial divides in food insecurity, coupled with the higher rates of exposure, infection, and death from COVID-19 among Black, Indigenous, and Other People of Color, point to the urgent need for the United States to make racial equity a top priority in efforts to contain COVID-19 and its widespread impacts. Racial equity is a process focused on centering and respecting the needs, power, and leadership of BIPOC, and a goal of achieving equal, and ultimately optimal, outcomes for BIPOC relative to their white counterparts.

Not long after COVID-19 arrived in the United States, it became clear to all that race played a major role in determining how likely people are to contract the virus and how likely they are to die if they get sick. Thus far, Black communities have had the highest COVID-19 death rate of any racial or ethnic group, followed by Indigenous people. This finding is consistent whether the data is at the county, state, or national level. According to the Color of Coronavirus Project, the death rates per 100,000 people in each group are 80 Black people, 67 Indigenous people, 59 Pacific Islanders, and 46 Latino/as, compared to 36 white people. When death rates are adjusted for age—to take into account that white people Food insecurity and COVID-19 have a reciprocal relationship. who die are on average significantly older than Black, Indigenous and Other People of Color who die—BIPOC are three times as likely to die as whites in their age group.

In response, this report discusses the unique impacts of both COVID-19 and factors that increase hunger in Black communities in the context of anti-Black racism, which is the root cause of these racially inequitable impacts. Anti-Black racism specifically targets the well-being of Black people. Racism against Black communities is an important specific type of racism because it informed the creation of structural racism in the United States, which began with slavery and continued with legal lynchings, physical abuse, and other forms of violence against Black bodies.

The report also explains why it is important to apply a racial equity lens to U.S. COVID-19 responses that centers Blackness (see figure 1) to reduce food insecurity and poverty. Practicing racial equity by centering Blackness can begin the process of repair from the policies that previously inflicted harm on Black communities, as shown in the graphic below, as well as on other communities of color that historically have also been harmed by these policies and practices.

The report also explains why, in centering Blackness, it is critical to center the needs, voices, and leadership of Black women, who experience the dual oppression of anti-Black racism and gender inequity. Centering the intersections of these two interwoven identities in our racial equity approach is a way of avoiding a focus solely on the experiences of Black men. Rather, the entire Black community is uplifted, and by extension, all other women, men, and children of color experience liberation, and more specifically, food security.

For this reason, the report’s analysis and recommendations have been informed, led, and guided by Black women who are experts through lived experience, as on-the-ground leaders, practitioners, or scholars from across the country and from different fields.

Marlysa D. Gamblin is the Senior Policy Advisor for Racial and Gender Divides at Bread for the World Institute. Dr. Kathleen King is the President of Mosaic Economic Consulting, LLC.

Food insecurity and COVID-19 have a reciprocal relationship

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“With hunger continually rising in the United States to historic levels and an average increase of 60% in the number of people seeking help at food banks across the country, we urge Congress to enact COVID relief legislation that will help keep millions of children and families from going hungry. Unemployment assistance has expired for the more than 12 million workers who have lost their jobs due to COVID – meaning they and their families will soon be facing hunger. Congress should act expeditiously and consider the legislation that earned the support of the vast majority of its members.

“It is also imperative that Congress provide immediate funding for global pandemic hunger and nutrition programs. The United Nations World Food Program warns extreme hunger could double, to 270 million people, by the end of 2020. An additional 168,000 children could die globally by 2022 due to hunger and malnutrition as a direct result of to COVID.

“As we close out this Christmas season and seek hope at the onset of a New Year, our hearts are with all those suffering. We pray and urge Congress for a quick resolution to this impasse so that struggling families in the U.S. are able to find some comfort knowing they can put food on the table. We also pray that lawmakers find the courage and will to pass funding for global pandemic hunger and nutrition programs. Christians are called on by God to help those in need. Our country cannot afford to deny relief to millions of people facing a hunger crisis and living in poverty.”  

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“Today Bread for the World is thankful Congress has passed a COVID relief bill that helps families struggling with hunger,” said Rev. Eugene Cho, president and CEO of Bread for the World. “Hunger is rising dramatically in the United States as the number of COVID infections and deaths hit record numbers daily. The relief package will help keep millions of children and families from going hungry.”  

As many as 50 million people, or 1 in 6 people in the U.S., are at risk of experiencing hunger this winter. Eleven million children currently live in a household where the children themselves are not getting enough to eat. Food insecurity, both prior to and during the pandemic, disproportionally impacts people of color. According to recent Census Bureau data, 40 percent of Black and Latino families with children are struggling to put food on the table.

The relief package increases the U.S. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) maximum monthly benefit by 15 percent for six months to help struggling families purchase food. The bill also provides $400 million for food banks through the Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), $175 million for nutrition services for older Americans, and through the Pandemic-EBT program, expands access to food for all children under age six who are enrolled in designated childcare programs. The package also includes another round of stimulus checks of up to $600 for individuals and expands the program to include families with a mixed immigration status. The package additionally includes $4 billion in global health funding for targeted global vaccine distribution.

While the relief package brings hope for many Americans and provides funding for global vaccinations, unfortunately, it does not include support for global pandemic hunger and malnutrition programs. The United Nations World Food Program warns extreme hunger could double, to 270 million people, by the end of 2020. And an additional 168,000 children could die globally by 2022 due to hunger and malnutrition as a direct result of COVID. Bread is asking Congress to provide at least $20 billion to fight COVID-19 abroad, including $2 billion for hunger and food security programs and $500 million for nutrition services.

“God calls on us to help those in need. During this season, many of us are contemplating and called to emulate the light of Christ during this dark time. Right now, the world is facing the greatest crisis in our lifetime. On behalf of our network of local churches, denominations, and other faith-based and anti-hunger organizations, I urge Congress to provide immediate assistance to address this global heath and hunger crisis,” added Cho.  

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“One million human lives created in the image of God have been lost,” said Eugene Cho, the president of Bread for the World, a Christian anti-hunger organization. Cho said the millions of Americans who are hungry, unemployed and homeless can’t wait until after the election for the next round of relief. “We have to call our leaders, the White House, our Congress, to not be naïve and ignorant, or to simply play political games,” he said. 

Watch the story. 

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With the virus now spreading in low-resource contexts and new waves of infection expected in the coming year, better nutrition for vulnerable people in the poorest countries—nutrition that provides the best possible immunity and strengthens resilience—is more important than ever.

Most at risk are pregnant women, infants, and young children. Without immediate action, experts estimate that an additional 10,000 children younger than 5 will die every month this year—four deaths per minute—because of the spike in wasting
(life-threatening malnutrition) caused by the pandemic. Preventing such an outcome requires urgent U.S. leadership to make swift investments and take quick actions to protect the nutrition needs of the most vulnerable mothers and children around the
world.

Good nutrition is critical for child survival, health, and development. It builds immunity, protects against illness and infection, builds resilience, and supports recovery. Of all deaths among children younger than 5, approximately 45 percent is attributable to malnutrition—either acute malnutrition or increased vulnerability to infections and other illnesses caused by malnutrition.

The COVID-19 pandemic is expected to double the number of people facing food crises, which will soar to 265 million in 2020 unless swift actions are taken, according to the U.N. World Food Programme. A rise in malnutrition is inevitable as the economic and health crisis becomes a global hunger crisis, and the secondary impacts reduce dietary quality, impair WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene) practices, and threaten care services for mothers as well as the continuation of regular health and nutrition programs for children.

The COVID-19 pandemic is expected to double the number of people facing food crises unless swift actions are taken

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This story is part of the July 2020 issue of Institute Insights

It is hard being Black in America right now. This is not new, but rather a reminder of the trauma threaded throughout the African American experience in the United States. While I’m following the advice of experts to remain home and keep social distance, it is frightening and devastating to see people who look like me dying from COVID-19 and police brutality at alarming rates. For many of us, it feels like a gut punch to see headlines and social media posts about the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and countless others.

Although COVID-19 and police brutality may seem unrelated, what connects them is structural racism, which plays a large part in the lived experiences of African Americans, from what our neighborhoods are like and what we eat, to the air we breathe and every other aspect of life.

Hearing George Floyd say, “I can’t breathe” was not the first time I heard those words. I have heard those words throughout my life.

As a Black child growing up in Washington, DC, I heard “I can’t breathe” frequently as a student in predominately Black public schools. Many of my classmates were asthmatic or had respiratory problems that required them to carry rescue inhalers or do breathing treatments. I recall moments in the fifth grade, sitting at my desk in Ms. Brown’s class, when out of nowhere, a classmate would raise her hand and ask to go to her locker to retrieve her inhaler, because suddenly she couldn’t breathe. Other times, a classmate in gym class would be gasping as he sat on the bleachers, waiting for his inhaler to help him catch his breath and saying, “I can’t breathe.” Asthma attacks were so frequent amongst my classmates that I thought asthma was as common as having seasonal allergies.

In general, African Americans are more likely to live in areas with high levels of smog, also called ozone pollution, which can cause breathing problems, increased risk of respiratory infections, and cardiovascular effects. The same respiratory illnesses put many African Americans at high risk of dying of COVID-19 if they contract the virus.

The people most likely to experience respiratory problems are the same people as those most likely to live with hunger and poverty in neighborhoods of concentrated poverty. Poor African Americans are five times more likely to live in areas of concentrated poverty, which have 20 percent, 40 percent, or even more of their residents living below the poverty line, as poor white Americans.

Unless our country confronts and dismantles systemic racism, Black people and other people of color will continue to be the first and worst-affected by climate change and environmental crises. We must approach the work of climate change and hunger using an equity lens that measures not only the outcomes, but also changes in the root causes of racial inequities.

Karyn Bigelow is research associate with Bread for the World Institute.

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“Among African American households with children, you’re seeing levels of 39 percent saying they’re food insecure,” said Asma Lateef, director of Bread for the World Institute. The number for Latino households with children reporting food insecurity was similar, at 37 percent, compared to 22 percent of white households.

“There are issues around historic systemic racism,” Lateef said, that make nonwhite populations more vulnerable to food insecurity. “They tend to work in jobs that pay less,” she said, including many of the service-sector jobs that have been hardest-hit by the COVID-19-related shutdowns.

“Historically, they’ve had higher rates of poverty and food insecurity. This crisis is no different,” Lateef said, although she added that anecdotal evidence suggests lower-income workers face greater difficulty securing unemployment insurance because they are more likely to lack access to a computer or high-speed internet.

Read the article. 

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As the COVID-19 health crisis raged, the Tuskegee Wesley Foundation joined together with New York City (NYC) Alumni of Florida A&M University (FAMU) and Tuskegee University (Tuskegee) to meet the mounting needs of the most vulnerable people and businesses in NYC. Recognizing the need, the team formed the Charitable Alumni of FAMU and Tuskegee which is comprised of three alumni from each respective university, including FAMU alumni Ms. Rasheeda Davis, Rev. Audrey Rodgers, and Ms. Valencia Sherman-Greenup, and Tuskegee University alumni Ms. Lisa Mifflin, Ms. Miranda Mifflin, and Mr. James Rice. The Charitable Alumni of FAMU and Tuskegee partnered together with Tuskegee Wesley to raise funds to assist the local Harlem community, as well as to assist students sheltered at the two universities as a result of the pandemic.

The organizations sought donations through their NYC Feed the Frontline Initiative. Within ten days, the organizations raised over $6,700.00, enough money to feed 425 frontline workers, donate to the COVID-19 funds of both universities, and support five small, minority-owned restaurants in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City.

“Alumni, family, and friends have a strong history of giving back to their alma maters,” said Rasheeda Davis, a FAMU alumna.

Tuskegee University and FAMU are two historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) created for food research and built on acres of arable land. Now, however, the universities find themselves situated in food deserts with little access to grocery stores or restaurants, limiting the ability to respond to outside threats like COVID-19. In mid-March, when both campuses moved classes online, more than 100 of the most food, housing, and technology insecure university students were allowed to remain in dorms at FAMU and Tuskegee. Donations thus helped students in need by supplementing reduced dining services and menu offerings through campus food pantries and other innovative feeding programs.

“The Food Pantry remained open to assist and augment food services by providing free food, personal hygiene products, and cleaning supplies to students forced to shelter on campus,” said Tameka Harper, dean of students at Tuskegee University.

In the city of New York, which was an epicenter of the pandemic, the partnership’s donations helped to feed frontline workers fighting the pandemic at two fire stations, two post offices, the truck hub of United Parcel Services, the Metropolitan Hospital Center in East Harlem, and Harlem Hospital Center. The project targeted workers who typically receive limited Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) but whose work puts them at risk for contracting COVID-19 such as lab technicians, social workers, post office workers, chaplains, firemen, and environmental service technicians.

The connection between the HBCUs and African American institutions in NYC dates to the mid-nineteenth century. Not surprisingly, one of the earliest documented institutional partnerships was the Black hospital movement in 1920. HBCUs and activists in Harlem worked effectively to expand opportunities for training and professional advancement for African American doctors and nurses. Black doctors and nurses could then staff hospitals for people of color in healthcare deserts across the U.S. until the gradual process of integration began in the mid-1960s.

“Tuskegee established the first nursing program in the state of Alabama. Harlem is one of the places where Tuskegee sent graduates to train as health care professionals,” said Rev. Audrey Rodgers, executive director of the Tuskegee Wesley Foundation. “It’s amazing that in 2020, alumni from these institutions are now working together to bring awareness to the food insecurity which impacts black and brown people throughout this country.”

Margaret Tran is a senior regional organizer at Bread for the World.

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“[S]he took him [Moses] to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son.” Exodus 2:10a

The disproportionate numbers of illnesses and deaths related to COVID-19 in the Pan African community are alarming. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that one-third of those hospitalized with the virus in the United States are of African descent. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports a 43 percent jump of reported COVID-19 cases in Africa. They warn that Africa is poised to become the next epicenter of the virus. Despite this—and despite the historic inequities that have contributed to this—Pan African mothers are fighting for life.

But this fight is not new. The deliverance story in Exodus illustrates this. This story begins with mothers and midwives in the first chapter. Biblical scholars say that it could have been Egyptian women or Israelite women who were the midwives. In either case, they resisted the government policy of killing male Israelite babies and jeopardizing the lives of mothers (Exodus 1:15-17).

Exodus 2:1-10 builds on this spirit of resilience and courage. Here the biological mother of Moses, Jochebed; her daughter, Miriam; and his adopted Egyptian mother, Bityah, fight together for the life of Moses. Life is saved because of the refusal of the mothers, joined by Jochebed’s daughter, to accept the unjust policies of Bityah’s father, Pharaoh. Moses’ life is spared for future years when Bityah adopts Moses and raises him as her son, thereby making him an African Prince of Egypt.

This extraordinary commitment to life has and is exhibited by mothers throughout the world. But in the case of Pan African mothers, this has been further challenged by the combined societal biases of race, ethnicity, and gender. This was also seen in the Exodus narrative when Moses’ Ethiopian wife, Zipporah, experienced this among the Israelite people (Numbers 12:1-12).

The bitter fruit of systems and attitudes of colonialism, racism, and gender biases remain with us—before COVID-19 and now. Such systems and attitudes summon us to a faith response that cries out for equitable public policies and a deeper spiritual understanding of what it means to live out love for and with all of our neighbors.

This response invites us to fight for life with our Pan African mothers. These mothers are essential workers fighting for life on the frontlines of healthcare and farming; bringing and retailing food at grocery stores; and caring for children, families, and elderly in caretaker institutions and in their own homes. Many are faith leaders—with or without clergy profile.

Bread for the World is committed to fighting for life with Pan African mothers and all mothers in this Mothers’ Day season. This fight includes advocating together to end hunger and to address hunger-related issues in the recent and upcoming stimulus packages, including global nutrition and child and maternal health. Won’t you join us? Please visit our Mothers’ Day web page to celebrate Mothers and Mother figures.

Angelique Walker-Smith is senior associate for Pan African and Orthodox Church Engagement at Bread for the World.

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“The United States must take immediate steps to support global and national efforts to contain the virus. COVID-19 is especially dangerous for people with immune systems weakened by malnutrition. But even beyond the illness, it is critical to prevent the projected surge in hunger-related illness and death — fueled by factors such as loss of income and livelihoods during quarantines, broken food supply chains, and potential trade disruptions.” 

Read the editorial. 

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Greenblatt and Dr. Eric Westman, associate professor of medicine at Duke University School of Medicine, asked themselves: “How do we get people prepared?” The answer they decided was face masks.

Very quickly, the two men launched Covering the Triangle, a community effort to recruit volunteers to sew face masks. Seamstresses from the Carolina Ballet together with a mattress factory redirected their work to making the masks.

The masks are being delivered to at-risk groups living under conditions that make social distancing difficult: the homeless, seniors in assisted living facilities, migrant workers in group housing, and prison populations. In the first week, the initiative provided 12,000 face masks.

Demand continues to grow, assisted by high-profile advocates like Steve Schewel, the mayor of Durham, N.C., and reports in local news affiliates.

Dr. Greenblatt was interviewed by Rosa Saavedra, a Bread for the World organizer in North Carolina, about the face mask initiative. She asked him about the role nutrition plays in the prevention of the coronavirus and its recovery.

“Certainly, we know that people who are weakened because they can’t afford to eat healthy foods or don’t have enough food,” Greenblatt said. “They’re going to be more susceptible to any infection, and that includes the coronavirus, and more likely to be a severe case.”

Without nutrition to boost immune systems, no individual is well prepared to fight COVID-19 when it arrives in their community.

One couldn’t ask for a more teachable moment than this to demonstrate that hunger and malnutrition are public health issues, relevant to health outcomes at all times, not just during crises on the scale of a pandemic.

This article was written by Todd Post, senior researcher, writer, and editor at Bread for the World Institute.

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By Todd Post

Bread for the World Institute’s 2020 Hunger Report, Better Nutrition, Better Tomorrow, is about the role of food systems in ending hunger and malnutrition. It will be released in late April.

Insights readers may notice that Better Nutrition, Better Tomorrow is also the name of Bread for the World’s current Offering of Letters (OL). The 2020 Hunger Report, like the OL, is focused on helping families here in the United States and around the world get the nutrition they need to lead healthy lives.

As we began to make final preparations for the Hunger Report’s release, the COVID-19 pandemic reached the United States. Life as many people knew it changed dramatically in a matter of days—mainly in late February through late March, depending on the state. At this writing, which countries and communities will be hit hardest in the end, the impact on the global economy, and how long it will be before people can begin recovery efforts are all unknown. At one point, one-third of the entire global population was on lockdown or “shelter in place,” and this may not turn out to be the highest proportion of the pandemic.

There are plenty of reasons to be concerned about food systems in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. I can’t cover them all here, but I’ll touch on how COVID-19 relates to some of the main issues covered in this year’s Hunger Report.

Food systems are just what the name implies—how societies organize to feed people. The food system is by definition the vehicle for accessing a healthy diet, and, of course, what people eat is the key to improving their nutritional status. Globally, an unhealthy diet is now the leading risk factor for early death. Health problems related to diet, such as diabetes and heart disease, put people at higher risk of death if they contract COVID-19.

Without good nutrition to boost their immune systems, no individuals are well prepared to survive the virus when it arrives in their community. It will become clear that hunger and malnutrition are public health problems that are important all the time, not just during pandemics.

One chapter in the upcoming Hunger Report shows how food systems contribute to climate change. The global food system is responsible for up to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. The Amazon is being deforested primarily to clear the land for cattle grazing. If people in rich countries ate less meat, it could become possible to halt deforestation and/or begin to reforest various areas. Large reforested areas might even be capable of storing or “sequestering” enough carbon dioxide to begin to reverse climate change. The key is in adapting Western-style diets to promote both health and sustainability.

Deforestation also contributes to human vulnerability to zoonotic diseases. COVID-19 is a zoonotic disease, meaning it is caused by an infectious virus that is carried by wildlife, to whom it may or may not be harmful. In this case, bats may have been the original carriers, and an intermediary species that hosted the virus was possibly a type of anteater called a pangolin. Humans clearing vast land areas for food production then came in closer contact with these hosts and contracted the virus themselves. The human species has no immunity to the novel (new to us) coronavirus that first appeared in people sometime in late 2019. And sadly, this particular coronavirus is obviously harmful to humans.

In a review of scientific studies covering the last 80 years, researchers found that agricultural practices were responsible for 50 percent of zoonotic diseases, and they wrote that the proportion “will likely increase as agriculture expands and intensifies.”

Another aspect of the food system in the Hunger Report is the role of the people who work in various parts of the system to ensure that those around them, and often people in faraway countries as well, have food to eat. During the COVID-19 pandemic, food workers in a wide range of roles remain on the job: planting and harvesting crops, processing food in factories, serving customers in drive-through lines, driving long-distance truck routes, stocking food in the supermarket, and the list goes on.

The U.S. public has gained more appreciation of the importance of food workers since the pandemic began. As more people became aware that few of the workers who prepare and serve their food in restaurants have paid sick leave, public support for requiring employers to provide it has grown. This is both because people are concerned for the workers and because they are concerned for their own safety and the safety of their families.

Around the world, most food system workers have little or no protection—from hunger and disease if their crops fail, from injuries in dangerous workplaces, from losing their jobs if a child is sick or the car breaks down. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, workers whose jobs require frequent interaction with the public are at higher risk of contracting the virus, and they are less likely to have good health insurance coverage if they or their family members become seriously ill. The pandemic underlines the urgency of reducing the deep levels of economic inequality found both between and within countries.

Todd Post is senior researcher, writer, and editor with Bread for the World Institute.

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By Marlysa D. Gamblin

Although they were the first communities in what is now known as the United States, Indigenous communities in urban and rural areas are often the last remembered in public policy. This is true particularly in times of crisis, including the current COVID-19 pandemic. As of April 14, 2020, the Indian Health System had confirmed more than 1,100 cases of COVID-19 and more than 20 deaths. In addition, Indigenous people living in urban areas, including Salt Lake City, San Jose, and Seattle, are contracting the virus at high rates. These statistics are expected to continue to worsen.

There are many factors that make Indigenous communities more vulnerable to the virus. Most are centered on the historical and structural racism that Indigenous communities in this country have confronted, starting with European invasion, violence, colonialism, and land seizures that date to 1565 and continuing today. Bread for the World Institute emphasizes the importance of applying a racial equity lens to efforts to end hunger—a goal that now includes responding to the most recent global challenge, the COVID-19 pandemic, since it is expected to worsen hunger, malnutrition, and food insecurity.  An effective response to the pandemic that, at a bare minimum, does not exacerbate existing inequities will require applying a racial equity lens to all COVID-19 responses, in order to compensate for the strikingly inequitable realities with which Indigenous people live.

There are many persistent disparities between Indigenous and white Americans—health, income, and wealth, among others—that increase both the likelihood that Indigenous people will contract the virus, and the likelihood that they will die if they become ill.  

Initial reports indicate that Indigenous communities lack access to basic resources, including food purchased in grocery stores, food boxes obtained from supplemental federal programs, and clean water—necessities that are vital to fighting the disease. This will also worsen the current racial hunger divides. Indigenous households are three times as likely to face hunger as white households. Unfortunately, some tribes have already reported hunger rising as a result of the virus.

Another contributing factor is the current racial health inequities. Indigenous communities experience higher rates of heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and other chronic illnesses, which weaken their immune system and increases the likelihood of contracting the virus. Jerilyn LeBeau Church, CEO of Great Plains Tribal Chairmen’s Health Board, says, “When you hear the guidelines from the CDC, they are asking people to take extra precautions with those who are autoimmune deficient or who are dealing with chronic disease. When you look at our native population, that is the majority of our patients.” Recent history is cause for alarm: the 2009 H1N1 pandemic disproportionately hurt Indigenous communities. Indigenous people were four times as likely to die from the disease as people from all other racial groups, and their mortality rate was three times that of their population size.  

This makes it even more important to provide additional funding for health support services. Institutions such as tribal health clinics, the Indian Health Service, and health care facilities that treat Indigenous people in urban areas have been chronically under-funded. They desperately need additional support to serve their communities. In addition, according to the National Council on Urban Indian Health, Urban Indian Organizations in some areas have projected monthly losses during COVID-19, forcing them to use their limited non-coronavirus-related funding to keep their doors open.

The closure of casinos on reservations also means that some tribal governments are losing their primary source of revenue and an important employer of Indigenous workers. On top of this, tribal casinos are ineligible to receive support under the stimulus package to help pay their employees. The loss of many jobs, both on and off Tribal land, may also increase the racial unemployment and income divides. The Indigenous unemployment rate is significantly higher than the white unemployment rate in both good and bad economies.

Analysts expect that COVID-19 will cause a national economic recession, potentially quite severe, that is highly likely to affect Indigenous communities at greater levels and cause deeper levels of hunger and poverty. The racial wealth divide between white and Indigenous communities means that many Indigenous families have little or no financial cushion in difficult economic times, including the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath. This also increases food insecurity.

To complicate matters, while the U.S. Constitution recognizes Indian Nations as sovereign governments, meaning that they have the power to self-govern, federal policies and practices have undermined Indigenous wealth, power, and sovereignty. This makes it harder for Indigenous communities across the country to respond in a way that best meets the need of their communities, and they have thus been forced to advocate for additional support to adequately meet their needs. Many Indigenous communities have had to wait longer than people in some other areas to receive tests for COVID-19, and they face major shortages of protective equipment.

Ending global hunger calls for everyone—the entire world population—to prioritize racial equity in their responses to the pandemic. Unfortunately, the data collected thus far is limited, and much of it has not been disaggregated by race, class, and gender, making it difficult or impossible to determine an equitable share of relief services and resources for Indigenous communities that meets their level of need. The COVID-19 response plan should address the inequities Indigenous communities face, whether they live on rural reservations or in urban cities.

Marlysa D. Gamblin is a senior domestic policy advisor at Bread for the World Institute.

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By Marlysa D. Gamblin

Many factors make Latino/a communities more vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic. During the H1N1 pandemic in 2009, Latinos had twice the rate of confirmed cases as their percentage of the U.S. population. This leads advocates to expect similar racial disparities with COVID-19. In addition, about 40 percent of Latinos have reported that they view COVID-19 as a major threat to their health—twice the rate of white respondents. The Latino/a community is diverse and people have varying degrees of susceptibility based on factors such as citizenship status, race, economic well-being, and detention status.

As a community, however, Latino/as disproportionately work in jobs that require their physical presence and do not offer a telework option. In a survey of U.S. citizens who are employed, the Economic Policy Center found that Latinos have the lowest proportion of workers who are able to telework (16.2 percent, compared to 19.7 percent for African Americans, 30 percent for white Americans, and 37 percent for Asian Americans).

Some groups within the community are likely to have even less option for telework because they have higher rates of service-based jobs, including home health aides, food delivery workers, and agricultural workers. These jobs disproportionately employ immigrants—particularly guest workers and those who are undocumented—as well as Afro-Latino/as.

Latino/as, whether born in the United States, naturalized citizens, or immigrants, work disproportionately in the country’s 10 lowest-paying jobs. These jobs, such as being a cashier or domestic worker, often entail contact with many people. They usually do not offer benefits such as paid sick leave. Workers in these fields are more likely to contract the virus than people who can work at home and, if they become ill, they are more vulnerable to losing their jobs and/or being unable to pay their rent and other bills.

Latino/a undocumented immigrants are among the most vulnerable people in the United States. Their lack of protections in the workplace, restricted access to many safety net programs, low pay, and ineligibility for unemployment insurance even though they pay taxes cumulatively increase their vulnerability to contracting the virus, losing their jobs, and suffering from hunger. Undocumented workers who have not lost their jobs are being put in situations that increase exposure to the virus. Farmworkers, for example—the majority of whom are undocumented—are still considered “essential” worker in places that have stay-at-home orders. Without these workers, people across the county would not have reliable access to food. In addition, many undocumented immigrants, regardless of employment status, are afraid to visit food banks and afraid to seek medical care because of the risk of being detained. This increases the risk that the virus will spread to their families and wider communities.  

Latino/a undocumented immigrants are also more likely to contract the virus because they face higher levels of food insecurity, which compromises their immune system. While this subject is under-researched, it is reasonable, in Bread for the World Institute’s view, to believe that food insecurity among undocumented immigrants is much higher than the 18 percent hunger rate for immigrants as a whole.

People who were forced to flee their homes in Central America’s Northern Triangle countries (El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras) and are now in detention in the United States are also at very high risk of contracting COVID-19. Many detention centers lack the soap people need to wash their hands regularly and maintain good overall hygiene to reduce their risk of spreading the virus to others. Detention centers are overcrowded, and officials are not currently following the Centers for Disease Control guidance on social distancing and handwashing. There have been numerous news reports about extremely poor quality food, lack of essential nutrients, and reports of hunger in detention centers across the nation. People living in these conditions are likely to have weakened immune systems and are therefore at higher risk of severe illness or death if they contract COVID-19. 

In each of these groups, Afro-Latino/as confront anti-black racism in addition to the many other inequities just mentioned, which makes them even more susceptible to contracting the virus and at increased risk of death if they do.

Ending global hunger calls for everyone—the entire world population—to prioritize racial equity in their responses to the pandemic. Unfortunately, the data collected thus far is limited, and much of it has not been disaggregated by race, ethnicity, class, gender, and citizenship status, making it difficult or impossible to determine an equitable share of relief services and resources for the Latino/a community that meets their level of need. The COVID-19 response plan should address the inequities Latino/as face, whether they affect citizens, documented immigrants, undocumented immigrants, recent arrivals seeking asylum, or any combination of the above. It is also important to address the specific additional, yet under-researched, obstacles and needs of Afro-Latinos in each of these categories.

Marlysa D. Gamblin is a senior domestic policy advisor at Bread for the World Institute.

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Por Marlysa D. Gamblin

Muchos factores propician que las comunidades latinas sean más vulnerables a la pandemia del Coronavirus (COVID-19). Durante la pandemia de H1N1 en 2009, el porcentaje de casos confirmados entre los latinos fue el doble al del porcentaje de la población general de Estados Unidos. Esto hace que los defensores anticipen disparidades raciales similares con el COVID-19. Además, alrededor del 40 por ciento de los latinos han informado que ven al COVID-19 como una amenaza seria para su salud, el doble al de la tasa de encuestados de  raza blanca. La comunidad latina es diversa y sus miembros tienen diversos grados de susceptibilidad en función de factores tales como el estatus migratorio, atributos raciales, bienestar económico y estado de detención.

Sin embargo, como comunidad, los latinos trabajan desproporcionadamente en empleos que requieren presencia física y no ofrecen una opción de teletrabajo. En una encuesta de ciudadanos estadounidenses empleados, el Centro de Política Económica (Economic Policy Center) encontró que los latinos tienen la proporción más baja de trabajadores que pueden teletrabajar (16.2 por ciento, en comparación con el 19.7 por ciento para los afroamericanos, el 30 por ciento para los estadounidenses blancos y el 37 por ciento para los asiáticos americanos).

Es probable que algunos grupos dentro de la comunidad tengan aún menos opciones para el teletrabajo debido a tasas más altas de trabajos basados ​​en servicios, incluyendo asistentes de salud en el hogar, trabajadores de entrega de alimentos y trabajadores agrícolas. Estos trabajos emplean de manera desproporcionada a inmigrantes, en particular a los trabajadores extranjeros temporales y a los indocumentados, así como a los afrolatinos.

Los latinos, ya sean nacidos en  Estados Unidos, ciudadanos naturalizados o inmigrantes, trabajan de manera desproporcionada en los 10 empleos peor pagados del país. Trabajos tales como el de cajeros o trabajadores domésticos a menudo implican contacto con muchas personas. Por lo general, estos empleos no les ofrecen, a sus trabajadores, beneficios como licencia por enfermedad pagada. Los trabajadores en estos ámbitos tienen más probabilidades de contraer el virus que las personas que pueden trabajar desde sus casas y, si se enferman, son más vulnerables a perder sus trabajos y/o no poder pagar el alquiler y otros servicios.

Los inmigrantes latinos indocumentados se encuentran entre las personas más vulnerables en Estados Unidos. Su falta de equipo de protección en el lugar de trabajo, el acceso restringido a muchos programas de las redes de seguridad, los bajos salarios y la inelegibilidad para el seguro de desempleo, a pesar de que pagan impuestos, aumentan de forma acumulativa su vulnerabilidad a contraer el virus, perder sus empleos y sufrir hambre. Los trabajadores indocumentados que no han perdido sus empleos están en situaciones que aumentan su exposición al virus. Por ejemplo, los trabajadores agrícolas, la mayoría de los cuales son indocumentados, todavía se consideran trabajadores “esenciales” en lugares que tienen órdenes de permanecer en casa. Sin estos trabajadores, las personas a través de la nación no tendrían acceso seguro a  alimentos. Además, muchos inmigrantes indocumentados, independientemente de su situación laboral, temen visitar los bancos de alimentos y buscar atención médica debido al riesgo de ser detenidos. Esto aumenta el peligro de que el virus se propague a sus familias y comunidades.

Los inmigrantes latinos indocumentados también tienen mayor probabilidad de contraer el virus porque enfrentan niveles más altos de inseguridad alimentaria, lo que compromete su sistema inmunológico. Si bien este tema está poco investigado, es razonable asumir, en opinión del Instituto de Pan para el Mundo, que la inseguridad alimentaria entre los inmigrantes indocumentados es mucho más alta que la tasa de hambre del 18 por ciento para los inmigrantes en general.

Las personas que se vieron forzadas a huir de sus hogares en los países del Triángulo Norte de América Central (El Salvador, Guatemala y Honduras) y que ahora están detenidas en Estados Unidos también corren un riesgo muy alto de contraer COVID-19. Muchos centros de detención carecen del jabón que las personas necesitan para lavarse las manos regularmente y mantener una buena higiene general con el propósito de reducir el riesgo de propagar el virus a otros. Los centros de detención están superpoblados, y en estos momentos los funcionarios no están siguiendo las directrices de los Centros para el Control de Enfermedades (CDC, por sus siglas en inglés) sobre el distanciamiento social y el lavado de manos. Ha habido numerosos reportajes noticiosos sobre alimentos de muy baja calidad, falta de nutrientes esenciales e informes sobre hambre en los centros de detención de todo el país. Es probable que las personas que viven en estas condiciones tengan un sistema inmunológico debilitado y, por lo tanto, corran un mayor riesgo de enfermedad grave o muerte si contraen COVID-19.

En cada uno de estos grupos, los afrolatinos enfrentan el racismo anti-negro además de las muchas otras inequidades que acabamos de mencionar, lo que los hace aún más susceptibles a contraer el virus y a un mayor riesgo de muerte si lo hacen.

Terminar el hambre a nivel mundial requiere que, alrededor del mundo, las personas de prioridad la equidad racial en sus respuestas a la pandemia. Desafortunadamente, los datos recopilados hasta el momento son limitados, y gran parte de éstos no han sido desglosados por atributos raciales, etnia, clase, género y estatus migratorio. Esto hace que sea difícil o imposible determinar lo que sería una parte equitativa de los servicios y recursos de ayuda para la comunidad latina que satisfaga su nivel de necesidad. El plan de respuesta al COVID-19 debe abordar las desigualdades que enfrentan los latinos, ya sea que afecten a ciudadanos, inmigrantes documentados, inmigrantes indocumentados, recién llegados solicitando asilo o cualquier combinación de los anteriores. También es importante abordar los obstáculos y necesidades adicionales específicas, aunque poco investigadas, de los afrolatinos en cada una de estas categorías.

Marlysa D. Gamblin es asesora de política publica nacional, Instituto de Pan para el Mundo.

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Q. It’s hard not to acknowledge what is going on in the world today with the global coronavirus pandemic. One story focused on the fact that air pollution levels have dropped significantly around the world. Could there actually be a silver lining to the coronavirus? Are there lessons to be learned from this crisis as it relates to climate change?

A. I think it is too early to know the full lessons that will come out of this experience. However, we know that the planet is getting a much needed break from the damage and pollution that humans put on it daily. This could lead to long-term practices to be more environmentally friendly, such as having events using teleconference systems. My hope is that out of this unprecedented time we will learn from this experience and innovation will come to combat climate change in the coming months and years.

Q. Describe the connection between hunger and climate change? How do they affect each other?

A. Climate change and agriculture have a unique relationship to each other, which can heighten the levels of hunger around the world. Every area of our food system contributes greatly to the emissions of greenhouse gases.

On the other hand, climate change then impacts agriculture. The ability to grow food is highly dependent on the environment around it. Many places around the world are struggling with drought, extreme heat, and deep freezes. All of these things make it harder for farmers to grow large amounts of food. Limited food supplies can lead to increases in food prices, which can lead to hunger and malnutrition.

Also, when natural disasters happen, hunger is more likely to rise, especially for populations that are were already facing poverty. This is particularly true in international countries where there are no social protection programs, like Disaster SNAP, which helps people have access to food immediately after an emergency.

Q. You and your Bread colleague, Jordan Teague, are working on a healthy diets simulation. Explain what that is and how climate change affects the availability of food – especially in developing countries?

A. Jordan and I were inspired by the Racial Wealth Gap Simulation that our colleague, Marlysa Gamblin, developed a few years ago. The challenge allows people to learn and test their knowledge by creating meals that are both nutritious and good for the planet.

The trick is that people have to try to make those meals based on one of the multiple identities and budgets we created. For example, one participant could be a smallholder farmer in Guatemala, while another may be a SNAP recipient in the United States. Participants will see the challenges that many face to eat healthy when living in a low-income household and see how climate shocks, like extreme heat, can contribute to hunger.

Climate change impacts the availability of food in a number of ways. Climate extremes, such as scorching heat, drought, heavy rainfall, and deep freezes, highly impact a farmer’s ability to grow foods. For example, Nepalese farmers have struggled for a decade to grow food. Over the years, farmers have struggled with rice production because summer monsoons have become less predictable. Summer monsoons usually bring heavy rainfall to the region that brings the water needed for irrigation (important to produce rice and tea) and refilling water supplies for the year.

A lack of proper rainfall can be devastating to the country since 65 percent of the population works in agriculture and half of the farmable land is used for rice production. Although every region of the world has different challenges, farmers around the world are struggling because weather patterns have been changing for decades. At times this has caused shortages of crops and rises in food prices.

Q. How are countries doing toward meeting their climate goals? What does the research tell us? Are some countries doing better than others and why?

A. In 2015, two important moments happened for the world to work collaborate to address climate change. Countries, including the U.S., committed to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and initial Paris Agreement meetings were held. Over 180 countries signed the Paris Agreement—the U.S. has since announced withdrawal from the Agreement. Sadly, almost all nations are failing to be on track to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement and the SDGs.

Currently, only Morocco is doing well to meet the progress of the agreement. They are on track to meet their commitment to change 52 percent of their electricity to renewable energy by 2030. India, Costa Rica, Philippines, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Bhutan are making progress, but not enough to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement.

Unfortunately, the United States is considered to be critically insufficient in our efforts to combat climate change. We have not taken enough action to reduce our emissions of greenhouse gases and continue to be one of the biggest emitter countries in the world.

Q. What are the ramifications to the world if countries don’t change course in how they address climate change?

A. Around the world people are currently feeling the impact of climate change. However, without drastic action by governments, catastrophe can happen. Millions of people will be forced to migrate, because some regions will be unlivable. Some countries so hot that people will no longer be able to live there, some coastal areas will be under water, and some places will be unable to grow food altogether.

For all these reasons and more, hunger and malnutrition will increase. By 2030, around 100 million people will be forced back to poverty, and consequently hunger, due to the instability that climate change causes. 

The post A conversation about hunger, climate change, and COVID-19 appeared first on Bread for the World.

By Marlysa D. Gamblin

“Does my life really matter? Coming to work means risking my own health. They don’t care about us. Our lives don’t matter to them.” I overheard the conversation of three African American women in staff uniforms as I walked down the aisle of a Dollar Tree.

As an African American woman myself, I wanted so badly to turn around and say, “Yes. Your life does matter.” But while the life of each person has value, I couldn’t assure the three workers that our country’s public policies and practices send that message consistently.  

Bread for the World Institute emphasizes the importance of applying a racial equity lens to efforts to end hunger and reach other goals, which now include responding to the most recent global challenge, the COVID-19 pandemic.

The many persistent disparities between African Americans and white Americans—health, income, and wealth, among others—are what lead advocates to believe that African Americans are likely to be at higher risk from COVID-19. An effective response to the pandemic that, at a bare minimum, does not exacerbate existing inequities will require applying a racial equity lens to all COVID-19 responses, in order to compensate for the strikingly inequitable realities that African American communities face.

Many factors make African Americans more vulnerable to the virus. First, African Americans have more health problems than whites, including higher rates of heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and other chronic illnesses, which increases the likelihood of contracting and dying from the virus. This, coupled with the racism that African Americans face in the healthcare system that often leads to under-diagnosis and under-treatment, increases the likelihood that African Americans who contract the virus will become severely ill.   

This is one of the reasons that it is problematic that African Americans face additional risk because they disproportionately work in jobs that require their physical presence, exposing them to the virus at higher rates than those who can isolate themselves at home. African Americans are disproportionately represented in the country’s 10 lowest-paying jobs, jobs that entail contact with many people, such as being a cashier or home health aide.

To make matters worse, racially inequitable policies that created racial housing segregation have meant that low-income African Americans are three times as likely to live in an area of concentrated poverty as low-income whites. Such neighborhoods have poverty rates of 20 percent, 30 percent, 40 percent, or more and lead to crowded conditions that make it difficult or impossible to maintain the recommended social distance during the COVID-19 pandemic. Areas of concentrated poverty are also more likely to have high levels of air pollution. People with asthma and other lung problems are more susceptible to a respiratory illness such as COVID-19. Finally, public transit is another environment conducive to acquiring COVID-19 since it is frequently crowded. Yet it is often the only option for African Americans living in areas of concentrated poverty to get to work and a full-service grocery store to buy nutritious food for their families. This suggests that social distancing is more of a privilege than something everyone is able to do to protect their health.

In both good and bad economies, the African American unemployment rate is significantly higher than that of whites. Analysts expect that COVID-19 will cause an economic recession, potentially quite severe, that is highly likely to affect African Americans more severely. The racial wealth divide between whites and African Americans means that many African American families have little or no financial cushion in difficult economic times such as the COVID-19 era. Those who contract the virus will have higher healthcare costs. They are less likely to have paid sick leave and therefore more likely to lose income. They could lose their jobs if they are unable to work for even a couple of days. This will worsen food insecurity and other problems.

Groups such as the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies have already convened African American leaders to identify policies in response to COVID-19 that promote racial equity and center the needs of African American communities. Ending global hunger calls for everyone—the entire world population—to prioritize racial equity in their responses to the pandemic.  

Marlysa D. Gamblin is a senior domestic policy advisor at Bread for the World Institute.

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Growing advocacy is as important as ever.

“Coronavirus and social distancing changes the way we do things, but not why,” said Matt Gross, director of organizing at Bread for the World.

A record-breaking number of people are losing incomes and livelihoods daily, while hardship increases for the 37.2 million Americans who already struggle to put food on the table.

“The coronavirus is not just a health crisis, it is a hunger crisis,” Gross said.

Sheltering in place from makeshift home offices and kitchen tables across the nation, organizers and their grassroots leaders are finding new and creative ways to congregate, advocate, and to facilitate activities like the Offering of Letters—Bread’s signature letter-writing campaign.

COVID-19 is a bump, not a barrier for faithful leadership—and leaders are stepping up and pushing forward amid this crisis.

“Working apart doesn’t mean we can’t work together,” said California’s senior organizer, David Gist. Mid-March, he held an online gathering for 35 leaders to coordinate their advocacy and letter-writing strategy via video conference. “We are learning and improving as we embrace new technology, and I’m really impressed with how eager and adaptable CA leaders are to advocate.”

Adaptability best describes Bread Indiana’s strategy. The Central Indiana leadership team has perfected an ecumenical letter-writing campaign by coordinating multiple church writing events. Last year, the campaign produced 4,000 letters.

“When life gives you lemons, make a do-it-at-home Offering of Letters,” Dave Miner, team chair, told 50 Bread members during an online training last month.

Miner and his team have adjusted their campaign time frame, provided more options than just hand-written letters, and created a tiered system of recruiting letter writers through peer-to-peer relationships. Miner thinks they may find the new opportunities are even more impactful. “Different is powerful,” he said.

For Ohio-based organizer Nicole Schmidt, flexibility is the guiding principle.

“We don’t know where we will be in two months,” said Schmidt, who is working with her leadership team to ensure that participants without access to computers are still able to participate. They plan to go “old school” and use the church’s printed newsletter to build excitement and a sense of community. “We just need to get creative and think outside the box,” she said.

Even members of Congress are leaning into technology to meet with their constituents.

Sean Kim, student and a member of the Joshua Heart Foundation’s Bread advisory board was excited about a March meeting with his Congresswoman, Lois Frankel (Fl-21). He even planned the suit he would wear. The meeting was moved to video conference as concerns about the spread of contagion grew. “Although it was slightly disappointing that I wouldn’t be able to tell my teachers that I missed their classes to meet with a Congresswoman, I knew that participating in the call would be just as rewarding as meeting Mrs. Frankel in person,” he wrote.

“Crises like these put a fine light on the importance of leadership,” said Gross, who encourages Bread members to stay in touch with regional organizers and be ready to react to a fluid and changing political landscape.

Many organizers are holding online meetings in the next few weeks to talk about the impact of the virus on hunger and what advocates can do. Registration is also open for regional webinars in May.

Uncertainty about the future is no deterrent to people of faith who are compelled to advocate for a world without hunger. “We need to stay the course and stay on call,” Gross said.

For churches or individuals writing letters, Bread for the World has updated the sample letter to reflect advocacy that addresses hunger and the coronavirus. You can download the letter at the Offering of Letters toolkit webpage.

Robin Stephenson is senior manager for digital campaigns at Bread for the World.

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“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” Romans 8:35

Separating ourselves from each other is hard. Yet social distancing is precisely what medical experts have told us to do during this season of the COVID-19 global pandemic—a season in which more than one million people are experiencing the disease and tens of thousands have died from it. The disease is strengthened by our lack of medical supplies or a cure. Fear is an understandable human response.

In the Pan African community, this fear is heightened. We are disproportionately affected by COVID-19 when compared to whites. A main factor has been mistrust of the medical system, which has practiced racial bias against African Americans, historically. In addition, many people in this community hold hourly, low-wage jobs. Dr. Lisa Cooper at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health says that “fear of lost wages or loss of employment may lead African Americans and other vulnerable Americans to try to work when they are ill, contributing to further spread of the disease within their communities.” Dr. Stephanie Miles-Richardson at Morehouse School of Medicine says that considerations like these “make Black people bigger targets for contracting and succumbing to the coronavirus.”

There are also other practical, cultural, and spiritual considerations. While the practice of social distancing can be lifesaving, this practice may be countercultural and impractical for many in the Pan African community. Working from home is not a viable option for many in Africa or in the African diaspora, given their jobs or the lack of an adequate safety net that would allow them to survive without working for a period. The choice is to stay home and not feed your family or to continue working with the risks.

Historically, Pan African communities have survived great moments of trial, in part, because they were able to gather. One of the greatest testimonies to this was immediately following the enslavement period when formerly enslaved African persons sought to gather their separated families. This led to a renewed model of the extended family over the smaller nuclear family.

The gathering at churches and places for education became centers of black life after enslavement. Churches have and still do serve as safe, inspirational, and educational places for Pan African communities. But social distancing has restricted this lifeline of survival and thriving.

There are, however, innovative models of gathering emerging, just like in this earlier history of Pan African communities. Churches are moving to online platforms and reorganizing their leadership. Joint advocacy—through targeted group phone calls and writing to our congressional leaders—is making a difference.

Thanks to those who have joined Bread in our advocacy agenda to make COVID-19 legislation better address the needs of people struggling with hunger and poverty. Romans 8:37-39 reminds us that through faith, we can still make a difference together in times like these. May this scripture be a source of encouragement in this COVID-19 season during Lent and Easter.

Angelique Walker-Smith is senior associate for Pan African and Orthodox Church Engagement at Bread for the World.

The post COVID-19, Separation, and the Pan African Community appeared first on Bread for the World.

You have called us from the east and from the west, from the south and from the north to be your body in this world. Keep us connected through you even in our physical distance.

We come to you trusting that you are our refuge and our strength, our very present help in trouble.

We pray for people who are experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 and for the family and medical staff who surround them in care.

We pray for those who are most vulnerable to this disease, whether from underlying health conditions or other contributing factors. May they rest in your peace and protection.

We pray for healthcare workers and people on the front lines of this disease. For workers who are in essential roles to keep our communities going. Keep them healthy; keep them safe.

We pray for parents and children who are struggling with this new normal of homeschool, especially those who rely on school meal programs. We pray for everyone struggling with these rapid changes. May we be comforted by your peace and your presence.

We pray for people who face hate and discrimination brought on by fear and anger. May these your beloved children feel your embrace.

We pray for those whose actions are motivated by fear and anger. May they remember that you are a God of abundance.

We pray for our leaders. May they be guided by your wisdom. May they be courageous and make the bold decisions necessary to end this pandemic.

And we pray for all the advocates and the volunteers who are responding to your call to care for the people who are most vulnerable in our communities and around the world. Give them endurance. Stir them with your longing for justice. May they be comforted and moved by your Holy Spirit.

It is in the strong name of Jesus that we do pray. Amen.

The post A Prayer: Healing from COVID-19 appeared first on Bread for the World.