May 11th, was a historical day for Hoosiers as two of our own, Jim Morris and Randy Tobias appeared before the Foreign Relations Committee to discuss their role as respective leaders of the United Nations World Food Program and the US HIV/AIDS effort.
While most of us are aware of general devastation of the AIDS epidemic-- over 3 million people have been killed and approximately 40 million people around the world are currently living with HIV -- it is not generally known how hunger and malnutrition play a role in this crisis. It is no coincidence that the prevalence of HIV/AIDS is highest in countries where food is most scarce. Because the disease affects people in their productive years, it has decimated the agricultural sector of sub-Saharan Africa, where approximately 80 percent of the population depends upon small-scale subsistence agriculture for its livelihood and food. Since 1985, more than 7 million agricultural workers have died of AIDS in 25 African countries. This places the burden of producing food on children and the elderly. In many places, fields lay unattended with no one to work them. The AIDS crisis has left some 14 million orphans without parents to farm or otherwise provide food. In many rural households, AIDS has turned what used to be a food shortage into a food crisis.
Both Jim Morris and Randy Tobias realize the connection between these two global problems. With their leadership in the field and the United States leadership globally, we can coordinate our assistance efforts to reach those in need.
Unfortunately, this problem is not unique to third world countries. Domestically, countless children go to bed hungry and start their school days without proper nutrition. This is why the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry recently passed a bill that reauthorizes child nutrition programs. There are several aspects of this bill which will provide greater effectiveness in our nutrition feeding programs.
I have always had a particular interest in the School Lunch Program. Over 28 million children are fed federally subsidized school meals per day. Nearly 16 million children receive free or reduced price meals due to the low-income levels of their parents. In Indiana, over 600,000 children participate in school lunch programs daily with over 250,000 receiving free or reduced priced meals. For many students a major portion of their nutritional needs is supplied at school. Safeguarding this nutritional source increases these children's health and educational opportunities. The recently passed nutrition bill improves the school meal programs by streamlining the application process for families and also provides safeguards to protect against fraud and abuse.
This bill also increases participation in the Summer Food Service Program. This important program provides free meals and snacks to nearly 2 million children daily during the summer months in lower income areas. In 2000, I attempted to streamline many of the bureaucratic accounting requirements for participating public providers of summer meals through a pilot program. As a result, pilot states improved participation rates by 12% over non-pilot states.
The nutrition bill expanded the pilots and now allows for private, non-profit facilities to participate as well. Indiana's children should benefit tremendously from this bill because the program will now be available for charitable organizations.
