October 2001

 

World Food Prize

 

Women’s Health, Food Security and International Family Planning

 

Des Moines, Iowa

 

It takes more than food to fill the world’s empty plates.  The chronic hunger faced by many families in the developing world is caused, not onlyjust  by a lack of food, but also by a lack of access to education, economic opportunities and health care, including international family planning. 

 

Food security is the ability to secure a reliable, sustainable and nutritious food supply.  According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, “food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.” 

 

The World Food Prize recognizes the contributions of an individual in increasing the quality, quantity or availability of food in the world.  This year’s World Food Prize recipient, Dr. Per Pinstrup-Anderson, is the Director General of the International Food Policy Research Institute, the world’s leading think tank on hunger issues. The Institute’s research on food security reveals that:

 

·        Families without adequate food supplies are less likely to send their children to school.

·        Lack of access to education and family planning services often increase poverty and slow a country’s development.

·        The millions of women suffering from malnutrition give birth to low birth weight babies who are at greater risk of dying from infection and malnutrition.

 

The health of women is key in any measure of global well-being.  Helping a woman out of poverty means helping a family out of poverty. Given the opportunity, women channel resources to the nourishment, care and education of their children.  By improving women's reproductive health, nutrition, and education, the chance of maternal and child survival also increases.  When children survive, women are more likely to have smaller families and are then better able to feed, clothe and take care of their children. This, ultimately, puts less stress on community resources and, in turn, the environment. 

 

HERE ARE THE FACTS:

 

·        Throughout the world women disproportionately shoulder the burden of hunger.  Of the more than 1 billion people who live on less than $1 a day, 70 percent are women. Women in Africa produce 80 percent of the food, but receive less than 1 percent of the credit made available for agriculture.

 

·        2 billion people lack food security – that is to say, one-third of the world’s population does not have a reliable food supply.  More than a billion cannot fulfill their basic needs for food, water sanitation, health care, housing and education.

 

Women in many parts of the world have the primary responsibility of finding food, water and fuel for their families, and for rearing children.  However, they often lack the ability to secure their families’ financial outlook.  The United Nations Population Fund’s upcoming publication, The State of World Population 2001, Footprints and Milestones: Population and Environmental Change, states that:

 

o       Women comprise more than half of the world’s agricultural workforce, yet they are often denied the right to own the land on which they work, establish credit to buy the latest equipment, or receive job training to learn new technologies.

o       Women are typically responsible for securing water, food and overseeing family health and diet, but current laws and cultural restrictions prevent them from making decisions about their own health.

o       Educating girls and providing women access to reproductive health services allows them to make choices about the health and size of their families. 

 

·        In many impoverished communities, girls --for economic, social and cultural reasons – do not have the same access to educational opportunities as boys.  The cost of this disenfranchisement is enormous, precisely because of the central role women play in the family.  Women with a basic education have fewer and healthier children, earn more money and participate more in their communities.

 

·        Providing women with adequate nutrition and access to family planning also helps their children.  Studies show that children spaced in two-year intervals are healthier than siblings born in rapid succession.  Research by the National Academy of Sciences affirms the role of child spacing in reducing high infant mortality.

 

·        HIV/AIDS is having a devastating effect on food production.  One role that reproductive health programs play is providing information that raises awareness of HIV/AIDS and promotes prevention.

    

o       Seven million workers in Africa have died since 1985; up to 16 million more may die in the next 20 years. 

o       Farming outputs have decreased by as much as 50 percent in some countries during the past five years as a result of HIV/AIDS.  Livestock is often sold to support the sick and to cover funeral expenses.

 

·         According to World Food Prize founder Norman Borlaug, “more than half of the world’s very poor live on lands that are environmentally fragile.  As populations in these regions grow, more and more are forced to cultivate unsuitable areas …”

 

·         In the last 30 years world population has climbed 60 percent while U.S. funding for international family planning has declined 40 percent when calculated as a percentage of federal budget spending. 

 

WHAT IS PLANET?

 

The Planet campaign aims to build awareness of the links between international family planning and saving the lives of women and children while protecting the environment.   The Planet partners include

 

CARE, Communications Consortium Media Center, National Audubon Society, Planned Parenthood Federation^Ò of America, Population Action International, Save the Children and DDB Issues & Advocacy-- leading advocates for women, children and the environment.

 

Funded by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the campaign features a series of television and print ads, including www.familyplanet.org, that have been running in Des Moines since the fall of 2000 to increase awareness of the importance of international family planning.  For the month of October, www.PLANetWIRE.org—a Web site for journalists, is featuring a story on food security and development.  A list of spokespeople, fact sheets and other key documents are also available on this site. 

 

 

For More Information Contact:            Denise Van, Planned Parenthood Greater Iowa, (515) 280-7004, ext. 130

                         Patrick Burns, National Audubon Society, (202) 861-2242 x 3019

                                                         Colleen Barton, Save the Children, (203) 221-4187        

                                                         Nicole King, CARE, (202) 595-2800

                                                         Kirsten Sherk, Planned Parenthood Global Partners, (202) 973-4864

                                                         Karyn Beach, Population Action International, (202) 557-3419

                                                         Tawana Jacobs, CCMC, (202) 326-8724

                                                         Amy MacIver, DDB, (206) 447-1202