For decades, the world has viewed hunger as a social crisis and treated healthcare as a clinical one. The U.S. as elsewhere has managed these issues on parallel tracks — one by food banks and the other by hospitals. But the reality is that these tracks are inextricably and permanently linked.

For decades, we have viewed hunger as a social crisis and treated healthcare as a clinical one. We have managed them on parallel tracks — one by food banks and the other by hospitals. But it is now time for a fundamental shift in our approach. We must move beyond the model of emergency food assistance alone and embrace an integrated, clinical and sustainable model that recognizes nutrition as a medical intervention.

The Heinz Endowments has awarded a $20,000 grant to Hunger-Free Pennsylvania (HFPA) to support efforts to integrate food and nutrition into health care delivery across southwestern Pennsylvania.