This fall's White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health, the first first food insecurity conference in about five decades, is about the nation's health.
U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra released brief statements in a May 4 news release shortly after President Joe Biden announced the conference. The conference's goal is "to end hunger, improve nutrition and physical activity, reduce diet-related diseases, and close disparity gaps" by the end of this decade and to "catalyze the public and private sectors around a coordinated, whole-of-government strategy to accelerate progress and drive significant change," the release said.
“For our country and our children to reach their highest potential, we must not only keep food on the table, but also aim for everyone to enjoy nutritious and affordable food that contributes to their overall health," Vilsack said in the release. "The Biden-Harris administration is committed to tackling both food and nutrition insecurity in order to prevent the diet-related diseases that plague our country, address health disparities in underserved communities and give all Americans a chance for a healthy future.”
"Our understanding of science and social determinants that affect nutrition and physical activity has evolved in the past five decades, and it is high time we prioritize nutrition more for the sake of saving lives," Becerra said. "As we prepare to gather for this conference, HHS - in partnership with federal agencies - continues to make new discoveries tied to healthy eating and physical activity and advance guidance and policy to reduce Type 2 diabetes, obesity and hypertension. Strengthening access to affordable and healthy food cuts down on chronic disease and helps us advance health equity for all Americans."
"The White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health will help drive the transformative solutions we seek to enact in the Biden-Harris administration through a whole-of-government effort and alongside public and private stakeholders," Vilsack said in the release. "The U.S. Department of Agriculture is proud to be a partner as we work together toward the admirable goal of ending hunger and increasing healthy eating by 2030."
The last such conference - and, to date, the only one of its kind - was under President Richard Nixon in 1969. That year's conference had the goal to “put an end to hunger in America for all time” and improve the nation's overall nutritional well-being. The conference's final report, delivered to President Nixon in December of that year, included more than 1,800 recommendations and ultimate lead to major expansions of the nation's Food Stamp Program, now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The conference also produced improvements in school lunch program and nutrition and ingredient labeling, and authorized the Supplemental Feeding Program for Women Infants and Children.
