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Why Children Who Go Hungry Will Never Be Full Again

It’s a horrendous reality that millions of children are going hungry in the UK.

These children are having to eat less and make food last longer, because their families don’t have enough money to buy more. The issue isn’t just impacting children – parents, or older siblings, will often go without food in order to cushion the youngest members, giving them what little they have to eat.

The cracks were already showing before the pandemic, following years of austerity, but Covid-19 has thrown more families into destitution. People are losing their jobs, homes – it’s impacting every aspect of their lives.

“This is an important and growing problem,” says Dr Ingrid Wolfe, a children’s doctor and director of the Institute for Women and Children’s Health.

“The pandemic has worsened things for families who were already vulnerable. Parents have lost jobs, money is even tighter. Children are increasingly going without food, eating cheap unhealthy food, and skipping meals.”

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Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford has been campaigning for free meals to be provided to children over the school holidays.
Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford has been campaigning for free meals to be provided to children over the school holidays.

The Food Foundation reported that more than 200,000 children had to skip meals because their families couldn’t access sufficient food during lockdown.

Footballer Marcus Rashford, 22, has worked hard campaigning to expand the free school meals programme over the school holidays. A petition he launched to end food poverty has so far garnered over 940,000 signatures (and counting).

While the UK government has refused to provide free meals for children in England over the holidays – which has led to a growing backlash from the public, Labour party and even members of the Conservative party – Rashford’s campaign has seen businesses, local authorities and community groups join forces to provide tens of thousands of free meals to kids who need them.

Of course, some argue that we shouldn’t have to...

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