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“Food as Medicine” on the Hill
To highlight the need for nutrition services for those suffering from chronic illness, CHC and the Association of Nutrition Services Agencies (ANSA) helped organize a June 19 briefing for the House Hunger Caucus on “Food as Medicine for People living with HIV/AIDS.” The briefing is part of a wider Food As Medicine campaign, sponsored by a $300,000 grant from The UPS Foundation and awarded to CHC and ANSA. The campaign goals are to educate lawmakers, policy makers and academics on the economic, medical and personal value of nutrition services.
The briefing was hosted by the House Hunger Caucus co-chairs Rep. James P. McGovern (D-MA), and Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO), who also serve as CHC’s board co-chairs. CHC executive director Ed Cooney moderated two panels of expert witnesses. Panelists included Frank Abdale, executive director of ANSA; Nikita Barai, a Bill Emerson National Hunger fellow placed at Food and Friends; Jean Jones of America’s Second Harvest (A2H); and Lynn Parker and Geri Henchy of the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC).
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| Representative James P. McGovern opens the Food as Medicine forum on Capitol Hill |
Rep. McGovern opened the forum with a quote from a report commissioned by the Sodexho Foundation that outlines the cost of hunger to the American public: $90 billion a year (or $300 per individual per year) in health care costs, charity and reduced productivity. He shared with the audience with a vivid image from his tour of Africa, where he witnessed an HIV/AIDS patient immediately regurgitating anti-viral medicines due to malnutrition and lack of food. Rep. McGovern reflected that chronically ill Americans may have more access to food than people in other countries, but that the nutritional content of this food was still deficient. To address the lack of nutrition for those suffering from chronic disease and other low-income people, Rep. McGovern and Rep. Emerson introduced a bill (H.R.2129) that would provide $20 billion over the next five years to expand federal nutrition programs.
ANSA’s Frank Abdale presented “The Power of Nutrition,” a white paper written by former Emerson National Hunger fellow, Brigit Adamus. The paper outlines that without the active use of nutrition services, Americans have spent $40 billion on avoidable hospital care for diabetes patients and have spent $41,000 per person per year on HIV/AIDS medication which cannot be properly absorbed by malnourished patients. These costs could be reduced if effective nutrition services were part of the prescribed regimen for those with chronic illnesses. Abdale challenged the audience by calling for innovative leaders who will understand and address the positive correlation between proper nutrition and the cost of medical care for those living with chronic illness.
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| Nikita Barai, 13th class Emerson fellow, presents her work at the Food as Medicine Capitol Hill Forum |
Following Abdale’s presentation, Emerson fellow Nikita Barai documented the effects of nutrition services provided by Food and Friends on the lives of their clients. Barai conducted over 60 home visits with chronically ill patients. Some 63 percent of those interviewed reported that the nutrition services provided by Food and Friends help them take their medications regularly and 74 percent said the services allow them to be more independent and take better care of their families. Barai focused on one home visit in particular where she saw the direct effect that nutrition services can have on a person suffering from chronic illness. Before access to Food & Friends’s nutrition services “Al,” who is living with diabetes, admitted that he ate “anything cheap” that would keep him full when his food stamps ran out in the middle of the month. As a result of his improper diet he was underweight and did not have the stamina to perform daily errands. After Food and Friends began delivering three daily meals six days a week, Al gained weight and credited Food and Friends for restoring his ability to visit the doctor and accomplish other necessary medical and life tasks.
At the end of the forum, Jean Jones from America’s Second Harvest, and Lynn Parker and Geri Henchy from the Food Research and Action Center discussed the available benefits for those who are food insecure, including food bank options and locally grown food programs, food stamps, and nutrition education through Women, Infants and Children (WIC). They recommended enacting the legislative proposals in H.R.2129 in order to serve America’s most vulnerable populations--children, the elderly, and the chronically ill.
This successful briefing led to the development of a similar forum with an international focus later in June. Kate Mitchell, a 13th class Emerson fellow placed with the House Hunger Caucus, played a significant role in the development of the June 30 briefing—“Food Insecurity, Nutrition, and Global HIV/AIDS”—sponsored by the House Hunger and Global Health Caucuses.
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