August 22, 2020 - Issue: Vol. 166, No. 149 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 2nd Session

[Page H4255]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            COVID-19 WORSENING CHILD HUNGER AND MALNUTRITION

  (Mr. McGOVERN asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, COVID-19 is having a devastating impact 
on global hunger and food security, especially among children.
  Even before the pandemic, malnutrition and hunger rates were 
alarmingly high. Globally, 144 million children suffer from stunting; 
wasting affects 47 million children; and hunger has risen by 60 million 
people since 2014. The pandemic could push over 130 million people into 
hunger by the end of 2020.
  In July, The Lancet estimated that without timely action, the global 
prevalence of child wasting could rise by a shocking 14 percent, 
affecting nearly 7 million more children and causing more than 10,000 
additional child deaths every month.
  Madam Speaker, with such unprecedented need, Congress must act. We 
must help fund the global response to this COVID-19 pandemic. We must 
divert this potential hunger and malnutrition crisis. The children of 
the world, just like our own children, need us.

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