Recognizing Importance of Sustained United States Leadership to Accelerating Global Progress Against Maternal and Child Malnutrition

Floor Speech

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, let me take this opportunity to thank Mr. Engel for his incredible service, not only to this Nation, but to the world.

Mr. Engel has been a champion for human rights, for diplomacy, and for all things good. This institution is a better place because he has served here. There are countless people around the world who are safe because of his advocacy on their behalf when they have been unjustly imprisoned or targeted unjustly. I want him to know how much I admire him and how much I appreciate his service.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H. Res. 189, introduced by my good friend and colleague, Congressman Roger Marshall, and me, in support of U.S. leadership and USAID's commitment to advancing global maternal and child nutrition.

I am very proud that this bill has 154 cosponsors, which is a strong statement of support for continuing U.S. leadership.

I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate Congressman Marshall on moving on to the Senate next year. I hope we will continue our bipartisan partnership to ending hunger here at home and around the world. He has been a valuable member of the House Hunger Caucus. In case he doesn't already know it, there is a similar caucus over in the Senate.

Mr. Speaker, the world has made impressive progress on improving nutrition in the past decade, thanks in part to strong U.S. leadership and a bipartisan commitment here in Congress to address these issues. The COVID-19 pandemic threatens to reverse all of the world's hard-won nutrition gains and leave an entire generation in danger of being seriously mentally, emotionally, and physically impaired.

In a world where we produce enough food to feed everyone, 821 million people, 1 in 9, still go to bed on an empty stomach each night. Even more, one in three, suffer from some form of malnutrition. Based on current trends, this number is set to rise to one in every two by 2025.

Eradicating hunger and malnutrition is surely one of the great challenges of our time. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world risks backsliding even more on nutrition.

In July, The Lancet published an article with estimates showing that wasting among malnourished children could rise by 14.3 percent if we do not act now. This would translate to an estimated additional 6.7 million wasted children during the first 12 months of the pandemic and more than 10,000 additional child deaths per month during this same period.

According to the World Health Organization, 52 percent of the world's nations have reported disruptions in health and nutrition services for sick and malnourished children.

But there is always hope, Mr. Speaker, to change the course of these trends.

We are in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic and the U.N. Decade of Action on Nutrition, 2016 to 2025. This gives us a historic opportunity to adapt, reimagine, and invest more in the fight against child and maternal malnutrition.

H. Res. 189 recognizes the importance of these challenges and the need for continued U.S. leadership. The resolution urges USAID to fully implement the multi-sectoral nutrition strategy to improve global nutrition.

I am sure that I speak for all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle that we all support strengthening U.S. efforts to protect women and children from malnutrition and related deaths.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support H. Res. 189 on global nutrition.

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