How Nutrition Education Supports Communities

The effects of the pandemic have hit our most vulnerable communities and aggravated an issue we can no longer ignore—hidden hunger. The economic impactor COVID-19 brought a new level of awareness to the issues of hunger, and food insecurity in the U.S. as more families found themselves struggling to put food on the table. According to a recent global food insecurity survey commissioned by Feed the Children and Herbalife Nutrition under the Nutrition for Zero Hunger partnership, 73 percent of Americans experienced food insecurity -the lack of available financial resources to feed a household -for the first time due to the pandemic.

The summer can be a particular challenge for families in need as parents scramble to feed their children nutritious food. With children on break from school, they cannot receive meals that were previously provided totem. Nearly 30 million children rely on free or reduced-cost school meals, and not all can take advantage of feeding programs that schools set up in the wake of COVID-19. As schools across the country respond in different ways to the continuing health crisis this summer, school meal programs will be unavailable or remain significantly compromised.

Now more than ever, it is critical that families have access to the nutrition they and their children need. Nutrition education can also help parents learn how to make healthy meal preparation fun for the whole family.

This article was originally published on IAmHerbalifeNutrition.com. Read more here to learn how Herbalife Nutrition brings awareness to the children's summer hunger issue and works with community partners to improve nutrition education in our vulnerable communities.