UNICEF briefs Congress on food crisis

Yesterday a UNICEF representative brought UNICEF's concerns about the impact of the global food crisis on children to the attention of Members of Congress and Congressional staff at a packed hearing room on Capitol Hill. The briefing, chaired by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), was cosponsored by the Congressional Children's Caucus, the Congressional Global Health Caucus, and the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health.

Annalies Borrel, Chief of the Humanitarian Policy Section of UNICEF's Office of Emergency Programs, thanked the U.S. Government for its initial response to the deteriorating global food and nutrition situation. Ms. Borrel stressed that while adequate food is necessary, children also need a healthy environment that includes access to health care, water, sanitation, and protection from exploitation and abuse. UNICEF's message is that children are the most nutritionally vulnerable to any disruptions in the availability and quality of food"and children must be at the center of the global response to the growing food crisis.

The U.S. Fund for UNICEF is working to support legislative initiatives on this issue being advanced by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) and Rep. Donald Payne (D-NJ), two of the key legislators who co-chaired the briefing.

We'll keep you posted here.