The United States will be joining the Global School Meals Coalition, an alliance that aims to improve the nutrition, health and education of vulnerable children throughout the world, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced this week on behalf of the USDA.
The coalition will officially launch in September at the United Nations’ Food Systems Summit and will be named School Meals: Nutrition, Health and Education for Every Child.
The coalition says its first goal is to make sure that all countries restore school meal programs for the 370 million children who lost access during COVID-19 by 2022. It also aims to reach the 73 million additional children living in extreme poverty and hunger who were not receiving school meals before the pandemic.