Sara Menker and Gro Intelligence Are Tackling Global Hunger
Sara Menker, a senior manager at Gro Intelligence, is one of the most dedicated global hunger experts today. With her in-depth global hunger research, she is challenging the status quo of a food system that has been systematically failing the world around her for decades. Sara brings a deep understanding of how the food system impacts people’s lives worldwide and is an expert in both the nutritional and economic costs of hunger. She and her team have been studying the impacts of international food trade and aid programs on global hunger for years.
“I am a food, trade, and aid policy analyst who has been working with Gro Intelligence for the past three years researching the impact of international food trade on global hunger, especially in terms of nutritional impacts,” Menker tells Food, Inc. in an email interview. “As our research has shown, these flows have direct and indirect nutritional and economic consequences.”
Menker is particularly interested in finding out more about the nutritional impacts of food aid. “The food aid that international food aid agencies provide to poor and hungry people around the world can have an important, though often hidden, impact on the nutritional status of rural populations worldwide—a key factor in whether individuals will develop chronic health conditions, and in turn health inequities.”
Menker and Gro Intelligence are bringing together some of the most talented researchers in the field of global hunger to provide an in-depth analysis of aid flows—and the nutritional impact they have on local people. “They are looking to bring together a team of researchers with a diverse and powerful array of expertise in agricultural economics, agriculture and nutrition, and global food systems to explore how food aid and trade have an impact on nutrition and health worldwide,” Menker explains.
A World in Crisis
Menker notes one of the most important factors driving the world’s food crisis is the rising prevalence of malnutrition in rural areas, especially in places where people have limited access to nutritious foods. “Global hunger is an increasingly serious problem in the world today—it is the direct cause of at least two-thirds of all deaths worldwide. The World Food Programme estimates that more than 1.2 billion people are affected by hunger and malnutrition globally, with the majority of them in low-income countries.”
The World Food Programme, a UN organization that works to alleviate hunger around the world, notes its recent 2017