wfn.org | End of hunger 'within reach,' says Bread for the World Institute

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Nov. 25, 1998	Contact: Joretta Purdue*(202)546-8722*Washington
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WASHINGTON (UMNS) - "The end of hunger is within reach." This is the
assertion made by the Bread for the World Institute on the first page of
its 1999 Hunger Report, The Changing Politics of Hunger.

The institute, an education organization related to Bread for the World
Christian citizens' movement against hunger, may have released its ninth
assessment of world hunger shortly before Thanksgiving to point up the
contrast between typical overeating and the continued existence of
hunger in the United States as well as around the world.

Even in the United States 11.2 million people live in households that
cannot afford enough food for their families, according to a U.S.
Department of Agriculture study.

Hunger still exists around the world, but over the past 25 years the
proportion of hungry people has dropped from one-third to one-fifth
globally despite the increases in population. Bread for the World gives
credit for this progress to sustained economic growth. This has allowed,
perhaps encouraged, governments to provide social programs for the
needy.

The publication notes that although the global economy has provided
opportunity for growth, it also threatens to increase the inequality
between the richest and poorest people. New trade agreements have
provided opportunities for workers but also made it possible to move
factories to countries where the people can be exploited with low wages
and poor working conditions.

The global communications revolution has made politicians needing to
fund television ads more responsive to moneyed special interests, but it
has also made it possible for individuals and groups to have more
influence on the policies through the Internet. Likewise, the spread of
democracy has increased the opportunities for ordinary people to
influence policy, although the voting majority often does not support
measures to overcome hunger, the report states.

In September 1976 both the Senate and House of Representatives passed
resolutions on the right of every person to have food and a
nutritionally adequate diet, the report says. The Senate's resolution
said the need to combat hunger shall be a fundamental point of reference
in the formulation and implementation of U.S. policy in all areas,
including international trade, monetary arrangements, and foreign
assistance. It also said the United States should expand assistance for
self-help among the world's poorest people.

The Rev. Arthur Simon, founder and president emeritus of Bread for the
World, states in the 1999 hunger report, "Christians have not, for the
most part, even begun to use their influence to insist hat their own
churches and their own countries lead a worldwide campaign to end
hunger. So hunger is a scandal - not only in sense of moral outrage, but
also as a failure to give evidence of God's love."

Bread for the World stresses citizen action and advocacy in the struggle
to eliminate hunger. The organization encourages the empowerment of poor
people. It also suggests that citizens hold social, economic and
political institutions accountable to the common good and especially to
the well-being of hungry and poor people.

The report, which includes several tables of economic indicators,
hunger, education and other factors by country as well as state hunger
and poverty statistics, also offers suggestions and strategy
recommendations. It is available for $18 from the Bread for the World
Institute, 1100 Wayne Ave., Suite 1000, Silver Spring, MD 20910. The web
site http://www.bread.org also contains more information about the
report.
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