Running head: HOW TO ENSURE NUTRITION SECURITY

How to Ensure Nutrition Security In the Global Crisis to Protect and Enhance Development of Young Children And Our Common Future Shawn Bray Millikin University

HOW TO ENSURE NUTRITION SECURITY

During 2007-08, the United States financial meltdown commenced accelerating into a global financial crisis. Shortly thereafter, the ripple effect generated and spread beyond borders. The aftermath resumes causing the global economy great distress in areas of trade & commerce, income and wealth, and the supply & demand in goods and services. The conditions of the current commodity market include the tightest margins seen in decades between food reserves and global demand. Within the last 25 years, global reserves have been estimated at an all-time low (Parsons, 2009). In other words we have increased globally in population while decreasing our food supply, production is lagging and eventually what reserves we do have will be demanded to feed the expanding new population. At the global level, the reduction in trade volume decreased revenue; tugging the unemployment rate in the opposite direction while shifting the middle class line riders forcefully into lower class expanding the homeless population. One critical component was a decrease in household income. The effect was reductions in household expenditures causing the economy to weaken and inflation to transpire. Limited resources and higher costs of production create inflation. According to The Journal of Nutrition, available evidence from the Asian economic crisis in the late 1990s as well as from Africa, consistently shows that as prices increase, households first reduce consumption of more expensive food items, typically animal source foods (meat, poultry, eggs, fish, and milk), and fruit and vegetables that are good sources of high-quality nutrients (De Pee, Brinkman, Webb, Godfrey, & Hill, 2009). Reducing these important foods that provide nutritional value can lead to life altering changes that may be irreversible in the long run. Malnutrition is not a consequence from lack of quantity, but rather from lack of valued nutrients in the food being consumed. Withholding the body of key vitamins and minerals increases the risk of the following: miscarriage, growth and mental retardation, physical

HOW TO ENSURE NUTRITION SECURITY

impairments, diseases and death. Within 365 days, roughly 3.5 million deaths will occur to children under the age of five. Even more concerning, there are at the least 178 million children around the world who suffer from chronic undernutrition. When labeled chronic, the symptoms and problems associated with malnutrition are irreversible. Unfortunately, this is the bodys reaction when children have been ineffective at consuming foods high in nutritional value during the first two years of life. As early as conception, depriving the body of nutritional value will cause fetal developmental problems and minimize the survival rate of both mother and baby. Additional vitamins and minerals are required to maintain overall health while breastfeeding and during pregnancy. Breast milk provides vital nutrients and antibodies that protect and maintain health for babies. When mothers suffer from malnutrition, breastfeeding may result in poor health for the mother increasing her chances of low immunity. Low immune systems are highly acceptable to virus and diseases. Mother and infant are both at higher risk for infection. Proper nutrition is considered a vital component that enables a child to grow healthy and develop their full potential. Those who suffer from chronic undernutrition have slowed cognitive development. Attending school is not necessarily a high priority when suffering from chronic undernutrition. For those who attempt an education incur a higher dropout rate due to days missed and lack of concentration, therefore retaining information is unachievable. Girls affected with this illness are increasingly at greater risk for delivering offspring with low birth weight and developing undernutrition. This viscous cycle continues throughout generations thereafter, putting the global economy at greater risks for low productivity and consequently income. Nutrition maximizes the chances of living a healthy life and enables individuals to reach

HOW TO ENSURE NUTRITION SECURITY

their full potential. Children are the world; they are the future. Investing in early childhood nutrition protects health, prevents disability, boosts economic productivity, and saves lives (De Pee, Brinkman, Webb, Godfrey, & Hill, 2009). Depending on children to make this world right leads to the conclusion that it is inevitable that we feed the children to secure a brighter future than the current one we live in. Providing aid in the form of food and medicine is more cost efficient in the long term rather than the alternative. Expenses incurred to treat disease, illness, death and the viscous cycle, is far greater in the short and long term. Providing quality nutrition for those in need around the globe should be a high priority. By not reacting in the form of prevention to alleviate this problem, or by reduction, in the long run the state of the global economy will suffer from the unintended consequences. Although, many governments are trying to build back up reserves to safeguard national food security, more are needed to respond to eliminate food insecurity all together. One method that is suggested to combat this epidemic would be to supply supplemental vitamins and nutrients at no cost or at wholesale cost. If micronutrients were readily available to supply to countries in need, 80% of the children who suffer from malnourishment will receive vitamin A and zinc capsules. The expense would amount to $60 million a year while return on investment will generate $1 billion a year. This would raise global economic health and push us closer to recovery, while providing the youth the ability to generate more wealth. The only way to make wealth secure is to provide those in need affordable resources that ensure to produce human capital. Otherwise the health of the global economy will decrease and eventually fail. My formulated approach that would increase the global reserve amount simply would be to create a global policy requiring all countries that trade in the open commodity market, donate

HOW TO ENSURE NUTRITION SECURITY

a percentage of net profits on each sale or total fiscal sales to organizations who feed the needy. The free market has allowed farmers, brokers, traders, and companies a large window for gains/loss by pricing on the futures market, as a courteous they should pay it forward and help those in need. Another recommendation would be, for every bushel sold, a percentage of total stock be applied to global reserves. Each farmer or business would have storage for reserves only onsite. The service of storing grain can be received through income tax exemptions and/or standard deductions which decrease adjusted gross income. This will allow farmers less taxable income. This will make happy farmers, resulting in an increase in GDP worldwide.

HOW TO ENSURE NUTRITION SECURITY

Works Cited

De Pee, S., Brinkman, J.-H., Webb, P., Godfrey, S., & Hill, I. D. (2009, Nov 25). The Journal of Nutrition. How to Ensure Nutrition Security in the Global Economic Crisis to Protect and Enhance Development of Young Children and Our Common Future, pp. 138S-142S. Gavin, T. (2008, Oct 9). Crisis Ripple Effects Could Mean Rip Tides for Worlds Poor. Retrieved April 23, 2012, from ONE: http://www.one.org/c/us/pressrelease/40/ Parsons, A. W. (2009, May 28). Sustainable Economics to End Global Poverty. Retrieved 4 23, 2012, from Share The World's Resources: http://www.stwr.org/food-securityagriculture/the-importance-of-food-reserves-in-a-hungry-world.html