Weekend reading: Follow up to the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health
As a follow up to the White House Conference on Hunger, I’ve been collecting fact sheets (my version of what happened at the conference is here)
Official information is available on the conference website. You can even watch it; links to videos of the sessions are posted here.
Note that everything in the fact sheets refers to the conference “Pillars.” As a reminder, these are:
- Improve Food Access and Affordability
- Integrate Nutrition and Health
- Empower Consumers to Make and Have Access to Healthy Choices
- Support Physical Activity for All
- Enhance Nutrition and Food Security Research
These [commitments] range from bold philanthropic contributions and in-kind donations to community-based organizations, to catalytic investments in new businesses and new ways of screening for and integrating nutrition into health care delivery. At least $2.5 billion will be invested in start-up companies that are pioneering solutions to hunger and food insecurity. Over $4 billion will be dedicated toward philanthropy that improves access to nutritious food, promotes healthy choices, and increases physical activity.
Fact sheet #2: From Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow: Anti-Hunger and Healthy Food Successes
As long as we have hunger and food insecurity in America, we have work to do…We’ve put policies in place that take big steps to strengthen the food safety net, incentivize purchases of healthy fruits and vegetables, and provide more resources for food banks and other organizations to address hunger and nutrition issues in their communities.
Fact sheet #3: From USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS): Leveraging the White House Conference to Promote and Elevate Nutrition Security.
FNS’s work aligns closely with the National Strategy, which outlines steps the government will take, while calling on the public and private sector to address the intersections between food, hunger, nutrition, and health.
It is fair to ask what the conference will produce and how government and private agencies will be held accountable for their commitments. For that we must wait and see.
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