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Article: Global food shortages, rising prices threaten public health: advocates call for food aid restructuring.
- Article from:
- The Nation's Health
- Article date:
- June 1, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 The Nation's Health. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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EVEN THOUGH it tops global development goals at No. 1, eliminating hunger may be moving even farther from the world's grasp. Rising food prices are pushing the planet's poorest communities further into poverty and threatening to unravel hard-won successes in health and economic opportunity.
A collision of factors is pricing adequate food supplies--a fundamental building block of good health--out of reach not only for the world's poorest, but for some in the United States as well. In April, the World Bank reported that global food prices rose by 83 percent during the 36 months preceding February 2008, with wheat prices alone rising by 181 percent. Just in the past ...