One dead of malnutrition every 4 days in Panama

SOMEONE dies of malnutrition in Panama every four days, As the   economy maintains a growth rate the envy of most of the world, and the sale of luxury cars rockets. 

Meanwhile dozens of the country’s former stawart and well heeledcitizens  are under investigation and awaiting trial for the theft of hundred of millions of dollars from the Natioanl purse,and the spending of over $45 million (minus millions creamed off the top) on  an mismanaged and failed schools feeding program using dried foods

The depressing statistics come with the announcement that the country’s first and only food bank has served 20,000 people in its first year.

Manager Ana Isabel Méndez said it has rescued 200 tons of food that otherwise would have been wasted.

Minister of Social Development Alcibiades Vásquez lauded the efforts of the group that operates the bank.

“If the bank did not exist, all that food would be thrown away, and that is unfair to those most in need,” he said.

The minister added that the bank is crucial to the government’s goal of cutting  by half  those affected, from 385,000 to less than 200,000.

That goal is crucial because, in Panama, every four days someone dies from malnutrition.

Méndez said the idea of creating a food bank (standard for decades  in many North American cities for decades  was prompted by an article in La Prensa in 2014 that detailed the dumping  of food that could still be consumed. This included cans and boxes of food that had been damaged, and therefore could not be sold.

The food bank collects and distributes the items.