Nutritious food is essential to healthy growth and development and can prevent the need for costly medical care. Many chronic diseases—the main drivers of cost growth and poor population health—are diet-related.

This shows why empowering women is vital to ending hunger and poverty. Women are the primary agents the world relies on to fight hunger. In developing countries, most women work in subsistence farming - the backbone of local food security. Women the world over feed and nourish their children.

This report published by Bread for the World shows the progress being made in many countries towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) agreed upon in 2000. It calls for increased focus on ending hunger and extreme poverty as the 2015 MDG deadline approaches, as well as in the post-2015 development framework and goals.

The 2011 Hunger Report covers the role of the United States in mobilizing global commitments to increase investments in agriculture, food security, and nutrition in developing countries. A dramatic rise in hunger and poverty in the wake of volatile food prices in 2007 and 2008 led to Feed the Future, a bold initiative from the U.S. government.