The Anthology, The End of Hunger: Renewed Hope for Feeding the World (2019, Illinois: InterVarsity Press), includes 29 short, readable chapters about the problem of hunger, early childhood nutrition needs, and recommendations for the future, with vignettes included of Nepal, Uganda, Malawi and Mexico. Many of the chapters draw on Biblical references, reflective of the faith based backgrounds of many the book’s authors. The book also includes a helpful glossary of terms and links to the websites of relevant non-profits.
Among the several dozen authors, former Congressman Tony Hall recalls visiting famine camps in Ethiopia in 1984, which changed his life, career and goals. He recounts his 21 day fast in the early 1990s when the Congressional Select Committee on Hunger was de-funded. He was surprised at all the people influenced by his fast, which also led to the creation of the Congressional Hunger Center, the nonprofit which operates today.
Former Direct of of the World Food Programme, David Beasely, writes how hunger in the world is closely associated with conflict: “Conflict drives ten out of the thirteen largest hunger crises in the world. Sixty percent of the world’s hungry live in conflict zones.”
Roger Thurow writes how “the effects of malnutrition and stunting steamroll through the generations in an accumulation of historical insults: stunted girls grow up to be stunted women, who give birth to underweight babies who themselves are stunted. And the vicious cycle grinds on. The ripples from stunting then engulf the community at large.”
Kimberly Flowers of CSIS notes that “Life-saving humanitarian efforts are often the first step in responding to fragile countries that don’t have the kind of stability needed for investments in long-term agricultural growth.”
Countering the gloom, Will Moore of the Eleanor Crook Foundation writes of the incredible progress achieved in reducing the numbers of annual child deaths between 1960 and today. “Thanks to improvements in housing, sanitation and water quality, the advent of scientific medicine, the development of low-cost vaccines, and huge leaps in agricultural productivity and nutrition, the survival of your child today is no longer a coin flip…. Unfortunately, our media is infatuated with reporting only the many events where things go wrong and does not shed light on the broader, steady upward trend in global development, human health and living conditions.”
Kimberly Williams-Paisley writes about providing food and dignity and remembers how she “loved Meals on Wheels because it was a great way to get to know the people I was serving.”
Former CARE CEO Helene Gayle writes about partnerships and gives examples about agricultural improvements. She cites “programs such as the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa… which is funded through a partnership between the Rockefeller Foundation and the Gates Foundation.”
Pastor David Beckmann writes that “the binding constraint on progresss against hunger is the lack of sufficient political will.” He explains how the nonprofit Bread for the World mobilizes 2.5 million volunteers and five thousand churches who have helped sensitize Congress to supporting nutrition programs. Diane Black talks about the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s approach to conferring skills to people to feed themselves.
Former U.S. Senate Majority Leader William Frist recounts how “our remarkable scientists got to work and developed powerful life-saving anti-retroviral drugs. In Africa, infected teachers and workers regained their health to build stronger and more secure communities. In Botswana, for instance, life expectancy jumped from thirty-nine years to sixty-seven.”
Editor of this volume, Jenny Eaton Dyer, summarizes that “we are halfway to defeating extreme povery and disease worldwide.” She explains the recent emphasis on addressing nutrition during any child’s first 1,000 days of life. She concludes that “we need to reconsider nutrition, its importance in the Sustainable Development Goals, its critical role in addressing global health and development and the amount of funding we as a nation are willing to spend to end hunger and malnutriton worldwide.”
