offering-of-letters-campaign-overview - Flipbook - Page 1
Laura Elizabeth Pohl for Bread for the World
A young mother, only 22 years old,
sat on the edge of a hospital bed, her
6-week-old daughter swaddled tightly
to her chest. Mother and daughter had
been inseparable, bound by this skin-toskin contact since the birth, when the
baby weighed just 900 grams, or slightly
less than two pounds. She constantly
needed her mom’s warmth and milk.
“I’m Gita,” the mother announced to
a group of visitors. Her daughter didn’t
have a name yet—Gita said she wanted
to wait until she knew her baby would
survive. She was playing a board game,
Snakes and Ladders, with another mother who also cradled a low birth weight
child. Gita was in high spirits. “I’ve won
three out of four games,” she said.
But there was a greater reason for her
joy. Her daughter had been weighed
again that morning, and the news was
encouraging. “She is 1,730 grams now,”
Gita proclaimed with great pride. The
baby’s birth weight had nearly doubled.
In India’s maternity wards, the scales
tell the story of the country’s—and the
world’s—battle against malnutrition.
Malnutrition remains a leading cause
globally of nearly half of all deaths of
children under the age of 5.
Last year, Bread for the World focused its annual Offering of Letters on
global nutrition so mothers and children could get the foods they need to
lead healthy and fulfilling lives. Because
of your advocacy, both the House and
Senate introduced its own versions of
a Global Nutrition Resolution. The
bipartisan resolutions passed out of their
respective committees unanimously and
are now awaiting passage in the House
and Senate.
Last year, Congress passed legislation
to increase global nutrition funding by
$5 million for a total of $150 million—
demonstrating the substantial support
Bread members have fostered on Capitol Hill for global nutrition.
In 2020, Bread will again focus on
nutrition. In addition to continuing our
advocacy work around global nutrition,
we will also turn our attention to those
experiencing hunger in the United States.
Too many children go hungry
Across the U.S. and the world, far
too many people, especially children, go
without food. More than 820 million
people in the world were hungry in 2018.
Many of the world’s children suffer from
malnutrition or lack of proper nutrition.
Today, 22 percent, or 149 million,
of the world’s children are not growing
as they should. And being dangerously
thin continues to threaten the lives of 7
percent—or 49 million children under
the age of 5.
After giving birth a month prematurely, Gita and her daughter were
rushed to the District Women’s Hospital, which is pioneering a new treatment: Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC),
so named because swaddled newborns
resemble joeys (baby kangaroos) in their
mothers’ pouches.
While they nurse their babies,
the new mothers eat a steady diet of
nutritious vegetables and fruits—