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End Hunger Everywhere

After decades of progress, global hunger is on the rise.

Jake Lyell/CARE

No one should die of hunger, yet every four seconds, someone does.

Across the globe, up to 828 million people do not have enough to eat, and as many as 45 million people are facing starvation and death.

The socioeconomic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with a series of violent conflicts and devastating natural disasters, have exacerbated global hunger, pushing millions of vulnerable people into food insecurity. This is not only a tragedy today, but also sets the stage for continuing crises.

The Farm Bill is a major piece of legislation that Congress reauthorizes every five years to support food, nutrition, and agriculture needs at home and around the world. International food assistance programs within the Farm Bill aim to alleviate global hunger and improve food security and nutrition around the world.

The Farm Bill includes emergency programs that provide immediate, lifesaving food aid to people affected by conflict or disaster. It also includes non-emergency programs that work to scale up and strengthen agricultural food systems to address the root causes of hunger and malnutrition and to help build resilience within communities.

CARE Stories of Impact: Farm Bill

Around the world, CARE is in countries working to protect and enhance food, water, and nutrition security in vulnerable communities.

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What’s in the Farm Bill?

International food programs in the Farm Bill include Food for Peace and McGovern-Dole Food for Education.

Food for Peace Title II reaches the poorest and most vulnerable families to save lives in times of emergency and addresses the root causes of food insecurity and malnutrition, helping to build resilience within communities.

It contains two types of programs: Emergency and non-emergency.

  • Emergency food assistance primarily consists of U.S.-grown food, especially for situations where local food is not accessible, or where there is not enough food to meet community needs.
  • Non-emergency programs, or “Resilience Food Security Activities” (RFSAs), build on emergency programs to support communities that are susceptible to recurring shocks. RFSAs are multi-year programs that target the root causes of food insecurity by investing in savings groups, agricultural loans, education on water management, nutrition education, climate adaptation, and other sustainable farming practices.

CARE is a leader in implementing RFSAs with decades of experience. CARE currently has four active RFSA programs in Niger, Malawi, Zimbabwe, and Ethiopia.

The McGovern-Dole Food for Education program provides school meals to children in the world’s lowest-income countries with U.S.- grown food as well as financial and technical support. The program increases access to safe water and improved sanitation in schools, and provides food to pregnant and nursing mothers, infants, and children under school age. Through this work, McGovern-Dole programs improve kids’ nutrition, maternal health, and literacy rates.

McGovern-Dole school lunches are a powerful incentive for parents to send their children – especially girls – to school regularly. Not only does the program increase girls’ attendance at school, it also helps girls to stay in school. Girls’ education helps protect girls from violence and early marriage.

CARE’s Impact to End Global Hunger

Within just five years, we have provided:

8.5 million people with food and nutrition support in emergencies

5.3 million people with more food security

3.3 million children with enough nutrition to grow properly

Global hunger: how did we get here?

Across 89 countries, tens of millions of families are now facing starvation. This scale of this crisis – both urgent and widespread – is the result of multiple factors, each building on the other. CARE is offering humanitarian aid in the form of food rations and cash assistance to those facing starvation, and treatment to those affected by malnutrition.

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