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Finding a solution to the “ongoing scandal” of worldwide hunger should be a top priority, said the Vatican’s representative to the United Nations. Addressing a U.N. General Assembly meeting on sustainable development goals on May 23, Archbishop Francis A. Chullikatt, permanent observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, called it “a shame that so many of the poor people in the world continue to find themselves helpless victims of chronic hunger.” He urged the United Nations to find “sustainable models of food security and nutrition” to end hunger for nearly a billion people worldwide. He described world hunger and malnutrition as “all the more egregious when we grasp the reality that malnutrition remains the world’s biggest health risk—claiming more victims each year than H.I.V.-AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined.” The archbishop called hunger “a moral and humanitarian crisis exacerbated by manmade policies and practices,” like failing to provide market access to producers in developing countries, diverting food resources to energy production, waste of food resources and armed conflicts.

This article appears in June 17 2013.