Records · Verification table
Child hunger — source verification, 5 November 2026
The working record behind the pages, published as written. Source file source/verify/child-hunger-2026-11-05.md. All records.
Pages checked: content/child-hunger.html (overview), content/child-hunger-learn.html, content/child-hunger-do.html, content/child-hunger-practice.html, and the child-hunger entry of CORRECTIONS in tools/essays.py. Research notes: source/research/child-hunger.md (sections 1–5 only; it has no section 6 "added from memory", so nothing jumped the queue).
Method. Every checkable claim was listed and its source fetched fresh on 2026-11-05 (US Eastern, evening) with WebFetch. PDFs were saved by WebFetch and converted with pdftotext -layout; HTML pages that WebFetch summarised too loosely were re-pulled with curl (browser user-agent) and the text extracted, so every quote below is the source's own words. Where a URL on the page blocks automated fetch (403/401/cookie wall/reCAPTCHA), the organisation's own alternative copy was read instead and is named in the row; no verdict rests on memory. WebSearch was used only to find current appropriations status and alternative copies (the session's search budget ran out near the end; all source reading was by direct fetch). Arithmetic the pages do themselves was recomputed (section 6).
Verdicts: CONFIRMED · CORRECTED · NOT IN SOURCE · UNFETCHABLE · NEWER DATA. Grades (site scale): primary · research (peer-reviewed) · evaluator (GiveWell; the site's own label) · charity's own figures · news · derived (our arithmetic from graded inputs).
Fetch-result shorthand: OK = fetched 5 Nov 2026 and read; OK (curl) = WebFetch blocked or truncated, page pulled with a browser user-agent and read; 403→alt = the page's URL refused automated fetch; the alternative named was read instead.
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1. Overview — content/child-hunger.html
| # | Page says | Source | Fetch | Source says (verbatim) | Verdict | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| O1 | H1 and description: "Bring a starving child back. About $100." | Taimaka donate https://taimaka.org/donate; Taimaka home https://www.taimaka.org/; GiveWell https://www.givewell.org/node/4359; UNICEF https://www.unicef.org/gulf/what-rutf-five-things-know-about-ready-use-therapeutic-food | OK / OK (curl) / OK / OK | "Every $94 in our program treats a child with acute malnutrition" (donate); "Our model drops the average cost per child treated to just $132" (home); GiveWell cost table "Cost per child … $105"; UNICEF: "When including programming and logistics costs, the total treatment per child is approximately US$150 dollars, depending on the context." | CONFIRMED | charity's own figures / evaluator / primary |
| O2 | Lede: "Undernutrition is part of the cause in about 2.2 million deaths of young children a year" | Black et al. 2013 via NCBI E-utilities (PubMed 23746772 page is cookie-walled) https://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/efetch.fcgi?db=pubmed&id=23746772&retmode=text&rettype=abstract; UNICEF/UN IGME release https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/progress-reducing-child-deaths-slows-49-million-children-under-five-die-2024 | OK (alt) / OK | "We estimate that undernutrition in the aggregate … is a cause of 3·1 million child deaths annually or 45% of all child deaths in 2011." · "An estimated 4.9 million children died before their fifth birthday in 2024". 0.45 × 4.9M = 2.205M. | CONFIRMED (derived, labelled as a model on the Learn page) | research + primary → derived |
| O3 | "The treatment is a carton of peanut paste and a nurse who measures an arm each week." | UNICEF RUTF page (above); IRC research summary PDF https://rescue.org/sites/default/files/2023-07/Simplified%20Protocol%2C%20IRC%20Research%20Summary_July7.pdf | OK / OK (PDF) | "A carton of RUTF, which contains 150 sachets, costs around US$50 on average. It is enough to treat one child for 6 to 8 weeks, leading to full recovery in most cases." IRC: dosing "according to MUAC" (mid-upper-arm circumference). | CONFIRMED | primary / charity's own figures |
| O4 | "it costs about $100 to $200 a child" | As O1 plus GiveWell IRC https://www.givewell.org/node/4024 | OK | GiveWell IRC table: "Cost per malnourished child reached … $215". Range on sources: $94, $105, $132, ~$150, $215. | CONFIRMED ($215 sits just above the stated range; "about" covers it) | charity's own / evaluator / primary |
| O5 | "the money for it is being cut" | CRS R49343 https://www.congress.gov/crs_external_products/R/PDF/R49343/R49343.1.pdf; Goalkeepers 2025 PDF https://goalkeepers.gatesfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/2025-goalkeepers-report_en.pdf; Save the Children UK https://www.savethechildren.org.uk/news/media-centre/press-releases/2025/four-african-countries-run-out-lifesaving-food-malnourished | OK (PDF) / OK (PDF) / OK (curl) | CRS: "The largest reduction would be from the elimination of Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) Food for Peace Title II international food aid grants (FFP, -$1.2 billion, -100.0%)". Save the Children: "the funding that could save children's lives has been cut because of recent aid cuts, leading to a global shortage of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food." | CONFIRMED | primary / charity's own |
| O6 | Learn door: "why the old 'every ten seconds' is wrong" | Black 2013 (O2) | OK (alt) | 3.1 million a year = 8,493/day = one every 10.2 s; the figure is "in 2011". | CONFIRMED | research → derived |
| O7 | Do door and "If you only have": "call your senators before the 11 December deadline" | CRS R48956 https://www.congress.gov/crs_external_products/R/PDF/R48956/R48956.7.pdf | OK (PDF) | "On September 2, 2026, the President signed into law P.L. 119-103, a continuing resolution (CR) to fund federal government agencies in FY2027, largely at FY2026 levels, through December 11, 2026." | CONFIRMED | primary |
| O8 | Do door: "from $5 a month"; "If you only have": "$5 is the minimum at GiveWell" | https://secure.givewell.org/ | OK | Each fund option shows "Minimum payment $5.00"; frequency tabs "One-time" / "Monthly" at the top of the form. | CONFIRMED | primary (the form itself) |
| O9 | Practice door: "a five-question drill" | content/child-hunger-practice.html (internal) | read | The Practice page has six <details class="drill"> blocks and its own description says "a six-question drill"; its body says "Six things people say." | CORRECTED → "a six-question drill" | internal |
| O10 | "$20 a month treats about two children a year" | Taimaka / GiveWell (O1) | OK | $240 ÷ $94 = 2.6; ÷ $105 = 2.3; ÷ $132 = 1.8 (÷ $215 = 1.1 at IRC's cost). | CONFIRMED at the low-cost programs the page names | derived |
| O11 | "The essay … argues that the deaths are a policy outcome, not a shortage" | Essay text | — | Argument, not a checkable fact. | n/a | — |
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2. Learn — content/child-hunger-learn.html
| # | Page says | Source | Fetch | Source says (verbatim) | Verdict | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| L1 | Lede: "Nine facts … five words to get right" | The page | read | ol.facts has 9 <li>; dl.words has 5 <dt>. | CONFIRMED | internal |
| L2 | Fact 1: "About 2.2 million … Roughly one every 14 seconds." | Black 2013 + UN IGME (O2) | OK | 2,205,000 ÷ 365 = 6,041/day; 86,400 ÷ 6,041 = 14.3 s. | CONFIRMED (derived) | derived |
| L3 | Fact 1: "45% of child deaths were linked to undernutrition in 2011" | Black et al., Lancet 2013 (E-utilities) | OK (alt) | "We estimate that undernutrition in the aggregate … is a cause of 3·1 million child deaths annually or 45% of all child deaths in 2011." Lancet 2013 Aug 3;382(9890):427-451, Epub 2013 Jun 6. | CONFIRMED | research |
| L4 | Fact 1: "the 4.9 million child deaths of 2024" | UNICEF/UN IGME release | OK | "An estimated 4.9 million children died before their fifth birthday in 2024, including 2.3 million newborns". | CONFIRMED | primary |
| L5 | Fact 1: "'every ten seconds, three million a year' is the 2011 number" | Black 2013 | OK (alt) | 86,400 s ÷ 10 × 365 = 3.15M, matching "3·1 million … in 2011". | CONFIRMED | research → derived |
| L6 | Fact 2: "Deaths caused directly by severe malnutrition are far fewer, about 100,000 a year by the UN's first direct estimate." (also s1 "~100,000") | UNICEF/UN IGME release | OK (curl for full sentence) | "For the first time, the report estimates deaths directly caused by severe acute malnutrition (SAM), finding that more than 100,000 children aged 1-59 months – or 5 per cent – died from it in 2024. However, the toll is far greater when indirect effects are considered … newborns under 1 month are not included in this figure, suggesting the burden is likely substantially underestimated." | CORRECTED → "more than 100,000 a year by the UN's first direct estimate, which excludes newborns and which the UN calls likely a substantial underestimate" | primary |
| L7 | Fact 2: "'Hunger-related' means undernutrition was in the chain, usually alongside pneumonia, diarrhoea or malaria." | WHO fact sheet https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/malnutrition; UNICEF release | OK / OK | WHO: "Nearly half of deaths among children under 5 years of age are linked to undernutrition." UNICEF: "malnutrition weakens children's immunity and increases their risk of dying from common childhood diseases." | CONFIRMED (the three diseases are illustrative; sources say "common childhood diseases") | primary |
| L8 | Fact 3: "autopsy-based study at seven sites in Africa and South Asia, an expert panel judged 92% of malnutrition-related deaths preventable" | Madewell et al., BMJ Global Health, full text via Europe PMC (PMC page is reCAPTCHA-walled) https://www.ebi.ac.uk/europepmc/webservices/rest/PMC11624724/fullTextXML | OK (alt) | "Most of the 632 malnutrition-related deaths (92.0%) were deemed preventable by the DeCoDe panel, significantly higher than the 80.5% considered preventable among 969 malnutrition-unrelated deaths"; "seven CHAMPS sites (Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, Mozambique, Sierra Leone and South Africa)"; "infants and children aged 1–59 months". Published 5 December 2024, vol. 9 issue 12. | CONFIRMED | research |
| L9 | Fact 4: "Food supply passed 3,000 calories per person per day in 2023." | FAO https://www.fao.org/statistics/highlights-archive/highlights-detail/food-balance-sheets-2010-2023 | OK | "In 2023, global food supply, measured in terms of average per capita dietary energy supply (DES) crossed the historic milestone of 3 000 kilocalories per capita per day." Dated 28/10/2025. | CONFIRMED | primary |
| L10 | Fact 4 and Words: "about 645 million people were still hungry in 2025 by the UN's count" | Vatican News https://www.vaticannews.va/en/world/news/2026-07/fao-report-645-million-people-faced-hunger-in-2025.html; FAO SOFI page https://www.fao.org/publications/home/fao-flagship-publications/the-state-of-food-security-and-nutrition-in-the-world/en | OK / OK | Vatican News (23 July 2026): "estimates that some 645 million people, representing 7.8 percent of the global population, faced hunger in 2025." FAO: "It is estimated that 645 million people faced hunger in 2025." (SOFI 2026, launched 21 July 2026 per UN/IISD coverage.) | CONFIRMED. Source upgrade available: s3 cites only news; FAO's own page carries the number (primary). | news → primary available |
| L11 | Fact 5: "One child's six-to-eight-week course … costs $33 to $50" | CHAI https://www.clintonhealthaccess.org/news/new-agreement-cuts-the-price-of-life-saving-malnutrition-treatment-by-30-percent/; UNICEF RUTF page; UNICEF price file https://www.unicef.org/supply/media/25986/file/Ready-to-use-therapeutic-food-price-data-2003-2026.pdf | OK / OK / OK (PDF) | CHAI (11 Aug 2026): "CHAI has secured a new price of US$32.50 per box for RUTF … 30 percent below UNICEF's most recently published global average of US$46.70 per box." UNICEF: "A carton of RUTF, which contains 150 sachets, costs around US$50 on average. It is enough to treat one child for 6 to 8 weeks". Price file (updated 14 August 2026): 2026 supplier prices $37.66–$54.53 offshore/country-office, one Haiti contract $59.47; "1 carton of RUTF containing 150 sachets of 92g each". | CONFIRMED ($33 is CHAI's floor for 30,000-box orders; $50 is UNICEF's rounded average; individual country-office contracts run higher) | primary |
| L12 | Fact 5 and s4: "UNICEF USA sells it as a $47 gift" | UNICEF USA product page https://www.market.unicefusa.org/inspired-gifts/150-ready-to-use-therapeutic-food-packets-rutf/S0000240-B26/ (category URL on the page returns 403 to WebFetch; loads with a browser UA) | OK (curl) | "150 Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food Packets (RUTF) $47.00"; "Your gift provides one child with a two month's supply of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) — enough to bring a child suffering from severe acute malnutrition back to good health." But also: "Inspired Gifts represent lifesaving aid. Your donation is unrestricted, allowing UNICEF to help children where the need is greatest." | CORRECTED → "UNICEF USA prices one carton as a $47 'Inspired Gift' (the donation itself is unrestricted)" | primary (vendor's own page) |
| L13 | Fact 5: "the cheapest well-studied programs spend about $94 to $215 per child treated" | Taimaka donate; GiveWell IRC node/4024 | OK / OK | "Every $94 in our program treats a child"; GiveWell: "Cost per malnourished child reached … $215" (Published: April 2024). | CONFIRMED | charity's own / evaluator |
| L14 | Fact 5 and Words: "one death averted costs about $1,500 to $5,500" | Taimaka home; GiveWell IRC | OK (curl) / OK | "We estimate it costs between $1,500 - $4,500 to save a life with our treatment program."; GiveWell table: "Cost per under-five death averted due to malnutrition treatment … $5,487". | CONFIRMED | charity's own / evaluator |
| L15 | Fact 6: "Deaths of children under five fell 63% from 1990 to 2023." (s5: "12.98 million deaths in 1990, 4.78 million in 2023") | UN IGME Report 2024 PDF (UNICEF file on mirror host) https://www.medicalbrief.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/UNIGME-2024-Child-Mortality-Report_28-March.pdf | OK (PDF) | Table "Number of under-five deaths (thousands) … Decline (per cent) 1990–2023": "World 12,980 10,063 7,229 6,211 4,777 63". Also: "In 2023, approximately 4.8 million children died before turning 5." | CONFIRMED ((12,980−4,777)/12,980 = 63.2%) | primary |
| L16 | Fact 6: "Donor health aid then fell sharply in 2025" | Fortune https://www.fortune.com/2025/12/04/bill-gates-childhood-death-rate-under-5-first-reversal-this-century; Goalkeepers 2025 PDF | OK / OK (PDF) | Fortune: "sharp declines in global development assistance for health, which fell 26.9% below 2024 levels this year." Goalkeepers: "Health funding refers to development assistance for health (DAH)—aid from high-income countries and donors". | CONFIRMED | news + primary |
| L17 | Fact 6: "the Gates Foundation's modelling projects child deaths rose that year" / "2025 may be the first year this century it got worse" | Goalkeepers 2025 report PDF (primary; the page cites Fortune) | OK (PDF) | "In 2024, 4.6 million children died before their fifth birthday. In 2025, that number is projected to rise for the first time this century, by just over 200,000, to an estimated 4.8 million children." "our foundation has worked with the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington to quantify the stakes." | CONFIRMED. Source upgrade: the primary PDF is fetchable; s5 cites Fortune only. | news → primary available |
| L18 | Fact 7: "The World Food Programme calls conflict the primary cause of today's hunger crisis." | https://www.wfp.org/ending-hunger | OK | "Conflict is the primary cause of today's hunger crisis, driving people away from their land and livelihoods". | CONFIRMED | primary |
| L19 | Fact 7: "92% recovery in the IRC's Mali cohort" | IRC research summary PDF (s6) | OK (PDF) | "IRC and the Mali Ministry of Health treated more than 27,500 children with a simplified, combined protocol. Overall, 92% of the children treated recovered." | CONFIRMED | charity's own figures |
| L20 | Fact 8: "3.7 billion people in 51 countries, by UNCTAD's count" live in countries paying more interest than they spend on health or schools | UNCTAD https://unctad.org/publication/world-of-debt?lang=en | OK | Key statistics: "51 developing countries — Spend more on interest payments than on either education or health"; "3.7 billion people — Live in countries that spend more on interest payments than on either education or health, 1.2 billion more than in 2010". Title: "A World of Debt 2026". | CONFIRMED | primary |
| L21 | Fact 8: "Much of that debt is domestic or owed to private bondholders, not only to rich countries." | UNCTAD (above) | OK (curl) | "Available external debt finance has shrunk as bilateral lenders diverted development assistance … and private creditors became more risk averse. This, coupled with sharply higher borrowing costs and deepening domestic capital markets, has caused developing countries to source relatively less of their public debt from external sources." Nothing on the page quantifies private bondholders' share. | NOT IN SOURCE (partial) — "domestic" is supported; "private bondholders" is not stated. Fix: "Much of that debt is borrowed at home rather than abroad, so it isn't only owed to rich countries." | primary |
| L22 | Fact 9 (and s8): "World military spending was $2.89 trillion in 2025" / "$2,887 billion" | SIPRI fact sheet PDF https://www.sipri.org/sites/default/files/Military%20Expenditure%202025.pdf | OK (PDF) | "World military expenditure rose by 2.9 per cent in real terms to $2887 billion in 2025, marking the 11th consecutive year of growth"; footer "Source: SIPRI Military Expenditure Database, Apr. 2026." | CONFIRMED | primary |
| L23 | Fact 9: "One percent of it, $29 billion" | SIPRI | — | 1% × $2,887B = $28.87B. | CONFIRMED (arithmetic) | derived |
| L24 | Fact 9: "would pay to treat every one of the 45 million wasted children several times over, at the program costs above" | WHO fact sheet; Taimaka/GiveWell costs | OK | WHO (1 March 2024): "Globally in 2022 … 45 million were estimated to be wasted (too thin for height)". 45M × $94 = $4.2B (6.8×); × $105 = 6.1×; × $215 = $9.7B (3.0×). | CONFIRMED (3–7×) | primary → derived |
| L25 | Words: "About 45 million children were wasted in 2022." | WHO | OK | As L24. | CONFIRMED | primary |
| L26 | Words: "RUTF … 150 sachets to a carton, one carton to a child." | UNICEF RUTF page; UNICEF price file | OK | "A carton of RUTF, which contains 150 sachets … enough to treat one child for 6 to 8 weeks"; "1 carton of RUTF containing 150 sachets of 92g each". | CONFIRMED | primary |
| L27 | Words: "$100 to $200 treats a child; $1,500 to $5,500 prevents a death" | As L13–L14 | OK | As above. | CONFIRMED | mixed |
| L28 | Contest 1: "45% (a 2013 model from 2011 data), 39.5% (autopsies at seven sites, 2024), or 5% (deaths caused directly by severe malnutrition)" | Black 2013; Madewell (Europe PMC); UNICEF release | OK | Madewell abstract: "Malnutrition was identified as a causal or significant factor in 39.5% of under-5 deaths in the CHAMPS network"; UNICEF: "more than 100,000 children aged 1-59 months – or 5 per cent". | CONFIRMED | research / primary |
| L29 | Contest 2: "The UN's count is 4.9 million; the University of Washington's is 4.6 million." | UNICEF release; Goalkeepers PDF | OK | "4.9 million children died before their fifth birthday in 2024"; "In 2024, 4.6 million children died before their fifth birthday" (IHME, University of Washington). | CONFIRMED | primary |
| L30 | Contest 2: "The UN also changed its method, so it says 2024 can't be compared with 2023." | UNICEF release | OK (curl) | "Child deaths continue to decline globally, though updated data and improved methods mean this round's estimates are slightly higher than reported the previous year. UN IGME estimates are not directly comparable across rounds, as each update incorporates new survey, census, and civil registration data, revised population and birth figures, and changes in country coverage." | CONFIRMED in substance (the release speaks of rounds, i.e. this year's estimates vs last year's; a tighter wording: "says this round's estimates aren't directly comparable with last year's") | primary |
| L31 | Contest 2: "The 2025 rise is a projection, not a count." | Goalkeepers PDF | OK | "In 2025, that number is projected to rise". | CONFIRMED | primary |
| L32 | Contest 3: "Save the Children reported four countries running out of therapeutic food within months of the 2025 cuts" | Page URL https://www.savethechildren.net/news/countries-africa-risk-running-out-wonder-food-over-next-3-months-due-aid-cuts-0 → 403 (WebFetch and curl). Alternative read: the organisation's UK release https://www.savethechildren.org.uk/news/media-centre/press-releases/2025/four-african-countries-run-out-lifesaving-food-malnourished; Reuters via Yahoo https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/four-african-states-running-special-132103143.html | 403→alt (OK) | UK release (29 Aug 2025): "At least four countries in Africa, including Nigeria, Kenya, Somalia and South Sudan, are expected to run out of ready-to-use emergency food over the next three months* due to aid cuts if gaps are not plugged, putting severely malnourished children at risk of dying, Save the Children said". Reuters (28 Aug 2025): "Supplies were getting dangerously low in Nigeria, Kenya, Somalia and South Sudan of high-energy biscuits, peanut-based Plumpy'Nut paste and other treatments known as Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF), the British-based aid group said." | CONFIRMED via the organisation's own alternative page. The cited .net link blocks automated checks; consider linking the UK release. | charity's own figures |
| L33 | Contest 3 and s9: "the US Secretary of State denied that deaths resulted" … "the denial was reported by Reuters, August 2025" | Reuters article (two full syndications read: Yahoo, The Star Malaysia https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2025/08/28/four-african-states-running-out-of-special-food-for-starving-children-aid-group-says); the denial itself: Washington Post fact check via ADN https://www.adn.com/nation-world/2025/05/28/fact-check-rubio-claims-its-a-lie-that-people-have-died-from-foreign-aid-cuts/; House Foreign Affairs Democrats https://democrats-foreignaffairs.house.gov/2025/6/meeks-requests-answers-from-secretary-rubio-over-claim-that-his-foreign-aid-cuts-caused-no-deaths | OK / OK / OK | The Reuters article contains no sentence about Rubio or deaths ("Rubio," "Secretary of State," "deaths," and "no one has died" do not appear in the article body). The denial is from Rubio's 21 May 2025 congressional testimony: WaPo (Glenn Kessler, 28 May 2025) quotes "No one has died because of USAID —" and "That's a lie." (to Rep. Brad Sherman); verdict "Rubio earns Four Pinocchios." HFAC Democrats (16 June 2025): Meeks letter over Rubio's testimony "that no deaths resulted from the dismantling of USAID". | CORRECTED → "the US Secretary of State told Congress in May 2025 that 'no one has died' because of the cuts" and in s9 replace "the denial was reported by Reuters, August 2025" with "Rubio's 21 May 2025 testimony, as fact-checked by The Washington Post, 28 May 2025 (news); House Foreign Affairs Committee Democrats' letter, 16 June 2025 (primary)" | news / primary |
| L34 | Contest 3: "A Lancet model projects 4.5 million extra child deaths by 2030 if the cuts continue." | Cavalcanti et al., Lancet 2025 via E-utilities (PubMed 40609560 cookie-walled) https://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/efetch.fcgi?db=pubmed&id=40609560&retmode=text&rettype=abstract | OK (alt) | "Forecasting models predicted that the current steep funding cuts could result in more than 14 051 750 … additional all-age deaths, including 4 537 157 (3 124 796-5 910 791) in children younger than age 5 years" by 2030; design "a retrospective impact evaluation and forecasting analysis"; Epub 2025 Jun 30. | CONFIRMED | research |
| L35 | Contest 3: "Nobody has counted." | — | — | Claim of absence; no global count was found. (Al Jazeera, 28 Aug 2025, reports MSF counting "at least 652 malnourished children had died at its facilities in northern Nigeria" in H1 2025 — a facility count, not an attribution to the cuts.) | n/a (not checkable; stands as written) | — |
| L36 | Contest 4: "Charities say recurring gifts help them plan. No independent study shows it changes outcomes." | IRC monthly page https://www.rescue.org/make-lasting-impact | OK | "By making a monthly gift, you are helping to ensure IRC teams are prepared to take action within 72 hours of an emergency". Second sentence is a claim of absence; none found. | CONFIRMED (first) / n/a (second) | charity's own |
| L37 | "Read the originals": the four links resolve | UNICEF release; GiveWell node/4359; PMC11624724; UNCTAD | OK / OK / reCAPTCHA / OK | GiveWell Taimaka page "Published: June 2025". The PMC link is a valid article page but shows a reCAPTCHA to automated fetchers; fine for human readers. | CONFIRMED | — |
| L38 | s1: UNICEF/UN IGME release "18 March 2026" | UNICEF release | OK (curl) | Dateline "GENEVA/NEW YORK, 18 March 2026"; the page stamp shows "17 March 2026". | CONFIRMED (dateline) | primary |
| L39 | s2: "Madewell et al. … BMJ Global Health, December 2024: … 39.5% … 7 sites; 92.0% judged preventable" | Europe PMC full text | OK (alt) | Published 5 December 2024; quotes as L8/L28. | CONFIRMED | research |
| L40 | s3: FAO "October 2025"; SOFI 2026 "through news coverage, July 2026" | FAO; Vatican News | OK | FAO page dated 28/10/2025; Vatican News "23 July 2026". | CONFIRMED (see L10 for the primary upgrade) | primary / news |
| L41 | s4: GiveWell "Taimaka ($105 per child, November 2024)" | GiveWell node/4359 | OK | Cost table "Cost per child $105"; "We are recommending a $4,787,985 grant to Taimaka"; treatment grant recommended November 2024; page "Published: June 2025". | CONFIRMED (grant date; the page itself was published June 2025) | evaluator |
| L42 | s4: GiveWell "IRC ($215 per child, about $5,500 per death averted, April 2024)" | GiveWell node/4024 | OK | "Published: April 2024"; "$215"; "$5,487"; "around eight times as cost-effective as unconditional cash transfers". | CONFIRMED | evaluator |
| L43 | s4: "Taimaka's own figures, $94–132 per child, $1,500–4,500 per death averted" | Taimaka donate / home | OK | As L13–L14. | CONFIRMED | charity's own |
| L44 | s5: "Gates Foundation Goalkeepers 2025 via Fortune, 4 December 2025" | Fortune | OK | "December 4, 2025"; headline "Bill Gates decries 'significant reversal in child deaths' as nearly 5 million kids will die before they turn 5 this year". | CONFIRMED (primary PDF available, L17) | news |
| L45 | s6: IRC research summary "July 2023 (92% recovery, 26% relapse at six months)" | IRC PDF | OK (PDF) | File path "2023-07/…_July7.pdf"; "Post-Recovery Relapse … in Mali: A Prospective Cohort Study (2023) … 6-month incidence of relapse … among 420 children … Cumulative relapse incidence to MUAC < 125 mm was relatively high (26%)". | CONFIRMED (note: the 26% is a 420-child cohort, not the 27,500) | charity's own |
| L46 | s7: DFI "Debt Service Watch 2025, October 2025" | https://www.development-finance.org/en/news/873-washington-debt-service-watch-2025-briefing-and-database-released | OK | "Wednesday, 15 October 2025"; "It exceeds total spending on education, health and social protection combined by 20%"; "5.2 billion of the world's citizens live in coutries where debt service exceeds social spending." | CONFIRMED | primary |
| L47 | s8: SIPRI "April 2026: $2,887 billion"; WHO fact sheet "2024: 45 million children wasted" | SIPRI; WHO | OK | "Apr. 2026" (footer); WHO sheet dated 1 March 2024, wasting figure refers to 2022. | CONFIRMED | primary |
| L48 | s9: Save the Children "28 August 2025" | .net 403; UK release; Reuters | 403→alt | UK copy dated "29 Aug 2025"; Reuters report of the same release "August 28, 2025". | CONFIRMED (release 28 Aug; UK repost 29 Aug) | charity's own / news |
| L49 | s9: Cavalcanti "June 2025 (a model)" | E-utilities | OK (alt) | "Epub 2025 Jun 30"; issue 2025 Jul 19; "forecasting analysis". | CONFIRMED | research |
---
3. Do — content/child-hunger-do.html
| # | Page says | Source | Fetch | Source says (verbatim) | Verdict | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D1 | Title and lede: "About $100" … "The whole treatment, with the nurse and the clinic, runs about $100 to $200." | As O1/O4 | OK | $94 / $105 / $132 / ~US$150 / $215. | CONFIRMED | mixed |
| D2 | Lede: "2.2 million … roughly one every 14 seconds" | As L2 | OK | Derived. | CONFIRMED | derived |
| D3 | Lede: "The food that brings a starving child back costs about $47." | UNICEF USA product page; UNICEF RUTF page; CHAI | OK | "$47.00"; "costs around US$50 on average"; UNICEF global average "US$46.70". | CONFIRMED (see D20 for the gift caveat) | primary |
| D4 | Step 2: "$20 a month pays for the full treatment of about two children a year at the lowest-cost programs." | Taimaka / GiveWell | OK | $240 ÷ $94–$132 = 1.8–2.6. | CONFIRMED | derived |
| D5 | Step 3: "Government funding runs out on 11 December 2026." | CRS R48956 (13 Oct 2026); CRS R49343 (10 Sep 2026) | OK (PDF) | R48956: "P.L. 119-103 … through December 11, 2026." R49343: "A continuing resolution (P.L. 119-103) was enacted on September 2, 2026, that funds government operations at FY2026 levels until December 11, 2026." | CONFIRMED | primary |
| D6 | Step 3: "The President proposed ending Food for Peace" | CRS R49343; CRS R48956 Table A-2 | OK (PDF) | R49343: "The largest reduction would be from the elimination of Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) Food for Peace Title II international food aid grants (FFP, -$1.2 billion, -100.0%)". R48956: "Food for Peace Title II Grants 1,687.58 [FY2025] 1,200.00 [FY2026] - [request] -100.0% 900.00 [House]". | CONFIRMED | primary |
| D7 | Step 3: "the House bill cuts it by a quarter" | CRS R49343 | OK (PDF) | "The House passed the bill on June 4 … The largest reduction would be from FFP (-$300 million, -25.0%)"; table "Food for Peace Title II and admin. 1,619.1 [FY2025] 1,200.0 [FY2026] 0.0 [request] 900.0 [H.R. 8646]". | CONFIRMED | primary |
| D8 | Step 3: "The Senate hasn't acted." | CRS R49343; CRS R48956; Holland & Knight (9 Oct 2026) https://www.hklaw.com/en/insights/publications/2026/10/beyond-the-midterms-congress-faces-converging-year-end-deadlines; The American Prospect (5 Nov 2026) https://prospect.org/2026/11/05/democrats-power-in-the-lame-duck-session/ | OK | R49343: "The Senate Appropriations Committee has not marked up a bill for FY2027 Agriculture appropriations." R48956 describes Senate action only prospectively: "The Senate could introduce and move its version of an NSRP bill through committee and floor consideration". H&K: "The House has passed three (Agriculture, Military Construction-Veterans Affairs, and National Security-State) of the 12 FY 2027 appropriations bills, while the U.S. Senate had not completed any comparable floor action". Prospect (today): "So far this year, Congress has not yet passed any of the usual 12 appropriations bills." | CONFIRMED as of 13 Oct 2026 (CRS) and, per news, still true today | primary / news |
| D9 | s5 cites "R48956, 13 October 2026, and R48564, 17 February 2026" for the Food for Peace figures | CRS R48564 https://www.congress.gov/crs_external_products/R/PDF/R48564/R48564.11.pdf; CRS R49343 | OK (PDF) | R48564 ("Updated February 17, 2026") is the FY2026 Agriculture report: "Food for Peace Title II and admin. 1,619.1 … 1,200.0 … -419.1 -25.9%" — it carries the FY2026 $1.2B but nothing on the FY2027 request or House bill. R48956 does carry FY2027 FFP in Table A-2 (D6). The dedicated FY2027 Agriculture report is CRS R49343, "Agriculture and Related Agencies: FY2027 Appropriations", September 10, 2026, with the $0 request, the $900M House figure, H.R. 8646 passed June 4, and the Senate status. | NEWER DATA → add CRS R49343 (10 Sep 2026) to s5; keep R48564 only for the FY2026 $1.2B/−25.9% | primary |
| D10 | Where to give: "GiveWell's four top charities … about $3,500 to $5,500 per life … vitamin A supplements, seasonal malaria medicine, vaccine incentives and bed nets" | https://www.givewell.org/charities/top-charities | OK | "Last updated: October 2026". Helen Keller Intl vitamin A "$3,500 per life saved"; Malaria Consortium SMC "$4,000 per life saved"; New Incentives "$4,500 per life saved"; Against Malaria Foundation nets "$5,500 per life saved". | CONFIRMED | evaluator |
| D11 | "GiveWell → choose Monthly at the top → pick the Top Charities Fund or All Grants Fund → $5 minimum. Paying by bank account saves card fees on larger gifts." | https://secure.givewell.org/ | OK | Frequency tabs "One-time" and "Monthly" at the top of the form; options "All Grants Fund (default)" and "Top Charities Fund"; "Minimum payment $5.00"; the form recommends the bank account option for donations over $50 because transaction fees are lowest; payment methods ApplePay, Google Wallet, PayPal, Credit, Bank Account. | CONFIRMED | primary |
| D12 | "GiveWell funds these programs too, and rates them a little below its top charities, with more uncertainty." | GiveWell node/4359, node/4024; GiveWell Metrics Report 2025 https://files.givewell.org//files/metrics/GiveWell_Metrics_Report_2025.pdf | OK / OK / OK (PDF) | Taimaka: "While our current best guess is that this program is below our funding bar"; IRC: "We estimate this grant is close to our cost-effectiveness bar."; "We instead rely on historical observational studies to inform our estimate." Metrics 2025 (Feb 2025–Jan 2026) lists malnutrition grants to IRC, ALIMA, Action Against Hunger, Taimaka (D16, D18). | CONFIRMED | evaluator |
| D13 | "Taimaka (northern Nigeria) treats malnutrition and nothing else, at about $94 to $132 per child." | Taimaka donate / home | OK | "$94"; "$132"; "existing government clinics in Gombe State, Nigeria"; site sections (Model, Impact, About) describe one program: "Pediatric malnutrition treatment – reimagined for scale." | CONFIRMED ("nothing else" is by absence: the site describes no other program) | charity's own |
| D14 | "Their page didn't show a monthly option when we checked." | Taimaka donate | OK | Neither "monthly" nor "recurring" appears; options: "Donate with credit or debit card", "Donate with bank transfer, stocks, etc.", "Donate via Every", "Donate via Paypal". | CONFIRMED | primary |
| D15 | "ALIMA (Niger, Chad, Cameroon and more) → choose the US option, then monthly." | https://alima.ngo/en/take-action/donate/ | OK (curl) | "Where are you donating from?" offers "🇺🇸 United States", "🇬🇧 United Kingdom", "🇦🇺 Australia"; "One-time or recurring monthly donation … One-time donation … Recurring donation"; "ALIMA USA Inc. is recognized as tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) … EIN: 26-0397519." Where We Work lists Cameroon, Chad, Niger (and Burkina Faso, CAR, DRC, Ethiopia, Guinea, Haiti, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, South Sudan, Sudan). | CORRECTED → "choose United States, then Recurring donation" (the labels on the page) | primary |
| D16 | ALIMA: "A medical charity funded by GiveWell for this work." | GiveWell Metrics Report 2025 | OK (PDF) | "ALIMA USA — Malnutrition Treatment in Mirriah and Dakoro, Niger and Ngouri, Chad (October 2025) $4,711,130"; "ALIMA USA — Primary Healthcare and Malnutrition Treatment in Far North Cameroon (June 2025) $1,900,000". | CONFIRMED | evaluator |
| D17 | "International Rescue Committee, monthly. Its simpler treatment method uses about a third less therapeutic food. Monthly gifts go wherever IRC needs them, not only to nutrition." | IRC PDF; IRC press release https://www.rescue.org/press-release/revised-who-guidance-acute-malnutrition-step-forward-children-humanitarian-settings; IRC monthly page | OK | PDF: "The amount of ready-to-use food (RUTF) required for a child with SAM to reach full recovery was less in the combined protocol (122 versus 193 sachets)" (36.8% less); press release (11 July 2023): "This approach requires 39% less of the treatment product ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF)". Monthly page: "Monthly donations are not restricted to a particular IRC program". | CONFIRMED | charity's own |
| D18 | "Action Against Hunger, monthly, any amount. Also unrestricted across its programs." | https://www.actionagainsthunger.org/take-action/give-monthly-lifeline/; GiveWell Metrics 2025 | OK | "Any amount, every month."; "you support Action Against Hunger's lifesaving, rapid-response programs in over 50 countries". The page contains no restricted/unrestricted language. (GiveWell: "Action Against Hunger USA — Procurement of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food in Northern Nigeria (September 2025) $1,281,869".) Match offer shown ("Your first three monthly gifts are matched 2X") — rightly not printed. | First sentence CONFIRMED. "Also unrestricted across its programs" — NOT IN SOURCE. Fix: "Supports its programs in more than 50 countries, not nutrition alone." | primary / evaluator |
| D19 | "Want to see the box? UNICEF USA sells one carton of therapeutic food, one child's whole course, as a $47 gift." and costs list "$47 buys one carton: 150 packets of peanut paste, a child's six-to-eight-week course." | UNICEF USA product page; UNICEF RUTF page | OK (curl) | "150 Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food Packets (RUTF) $47.00"; "Your gift provides one child with a two month's supply of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF)"; "Inspired Gifts represent lifesaving aid. Your donation is unrestricted, allowing UNICEF to help children where the need is greatest." UNICEF: "150 sachets … 6 to 8 weeks". | CORRECTED → add the caveat: "UNICEF USA prices one carton — one child's course — as a $47 gift; the money itself is unrestricted." | primary |
| D20 | Costs: "About $1,500 to $5,500 is the cost of one death prevented." | Taimaka; GiveWell IRC | OK | "$1,500 - $4,500"; "$5,487". | CONFIRMED | charity's own / evaluator |
| D21 | Call: "Find your senators at senate.gov … representative by ZIP at house.gov … Capitol switchboard, (202) 224-3121" | https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm; https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative | OK / OK | "A U.S. Capitol Switchboard operator can also connect you directly with the Senate office at (202) 224-3121."; house.gov: "Enter your ZIP code:" … "This service will assist you by matching your ZIP code to your congressional district". NY senators shown: "Gillibrand (D-NY)", "Schumer (D-NY)". | CONFIRMED | primary |
| D22 | "Staff say a specific request and a local reason matter most." | CMF, Citizen-Centric Advocacy (2017) PDF — page URL redirects to https://static1.squarespace.com/static/67ead1d67cfe8944d45170dd/t/68d303702e3b2b315776617b/1771948878481/cmf-citizen-centric-advocacy.pdf | OK (PDF) | Figure 6 ("How helpful are each of these elements when provided by groups/constituents before a meeting?"): "Specific request for action 79%", "Impact on district (facts and hard data) 78%", "Local groups affected by the issue 78%", "Description of the issue/problem 71%", "Bill number 66%". | CONFIRMED | primary |
| D23 | Script: "spending bills due December 11 … keep global nutrition funding at least at this year's $165 million, and keep Food for Peace at least at $1.2 billion. The President proposed eliminating Food for Peace and the House bill cuts it to $900 million." | CRS R48956 (GHP table and Table A-2); CRS R49343 | OK (PDF) | GHP table: "Nutrition 165.00 [FY2025] 165.00 [FY2026] — [request] n.a. 165.00 [House]"; Table A-2: "Food for Peace Title II Grants 1,687.58 1,200.00 - -100.0% 900.00"; R49343 table "Food for Peace Title II and admin. … 1,200.0 … 0.0 … 900.0". | CONFIRMED (all three figures current as of today) | primary |
| D24 | "Your House member votes until 3 January even if they lost on 3 November." | Twentieth Amendment via Cornell LII https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/amendmentxx (constitution.congress.gov returned 403); 2 U.S.C. §7 https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/2/7; NYC Board of Elections https://vote.nyc/ | OK (alt) / OK / OK | Amendment XX §1: "the terms of Senators and Representatives at noon on the 3d day of January"; 2 U.S.C. §7: "The Tuesday next after the 1st Monday in November, in every even numbered year, is established as the day for the election … of Representatives"; vote.nyc: "November 3, 2026 General Election". | CONFIRMED | primary |
| D25 | Closer to home: "About 751,000 American children lived in homes where a child went short of food in 2024." | USDA ERS https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/food-security-in-the-u-s/key-statistics-graphics | OK | "Last updated: 3/30/2026"; "751,000 children (1.0 percent of the Nation's children) lived in households in which one or more child experienced very low food security"; "7.3 million children lived in food-insecure households in which children, along with adults, were food insecure." | CONFIRMED ("went short of food" is the plain gloss of USDA's "very low food security among children") | primary |
| D26 | "Find a food bank by ZIP at Feeding America; in New York, City Harvest." | https://www.feedingamerica.org/find-your-local-foodbank; https://www.cityharvest.org/ | OK / OK | "Enter your ZIP code to find nearby food banks in the Feeding America network."; City Harvest: "NYC's first and largest food rescue organization". | CONFIRMED | primary |
| D27 | Q1: "about two full treatments a year … $240 a year is about 4% of one death prevented." | GiveWell IRC $5,487 | OK | 240 ÷ 5,487 = 4.4%. | CONFIRMED | derived |
| D28 | Q2: "GiveWell pays for independent checks on the programs it funds." | GiveWell Metrics Report 2025 | OK (PDF) | "IDinsight Inc — Evaluation of GiveWell-Funded Malnutrition Treatment Programs (Design Phase) (December 2025) $107,000"; "The Taimaka Project — Program Monitoring (March 2025) $614,133". | CONFIRMED with caveat: the independent (IDinsight) grant is the design phase of an evaluation; a safer wording is "funds monitoring and has commissioned an independent evaluation" | evaluator |
| D29 | Q2 and Q5: "in one IRC study, about a quarter of recovered children fell back within six months"; "IRC reports 92% recovery in Mali" | IRC PDF | OK (PDF) | "Cumulative relapse incidence to MUAC < 125 mm was relatively high (26%)" (420 children, 6 months); "Overall, 92% of the children treated recovered." | CONFIRMED | charity's own |
| D30 | Q3: "84% of congressional staff say calls have some or a lot of influence" (on undecided members) | CMF PDF | OK (PDF) | Figure 1, "If your Member/Senator has not already arrived at a firm decision on an issue, how much influence might the following advocacy strategies directed to the Washington office have on his/her decision?": "Phone Calls 84%" (also "In-Person Issue Visits from Constituents 94%", "Individualized Email Messages 92%", "Form Email Messages 56%"). | CONFIRMED | primary |
| D31 | Q4: "GiveWell's top charities save more children's lives per dollar than malnutrition treatment does." | GiveWell top charities; node/4024; node/4359 | OK | $3,500–$5,500 per life (top charities) vs "$5,487" per death averted (IRC) and "below our funding bar" (Taimaka). | CONFIRMED (GiveWell's own estimates) | evaluator |
| D32 | Q6: "fell 63% between 1990 and 2023 … donor health aid fell sharply in 2025 … Gates Foundation's modelling projects 2025 as the first year this century that child deaths rose." | IGME 2024 report; Goalkeepers PDF; Fortune | OK | As L15–L17. | CONFIRMED | primary / news |
| D33 | s1: UN IGME "18 March 2026"; Black 2013 "45%"; "BMJ Global Health, December 2024 … 39.5%" | As L38, L3, L39 | OK | As above. | CONFIRMED | primary / research |
| D34 | s3: "GiveWell, Top charities, updated October 2026" | GiveWell top charities | OK | "Last updated: October 2026". | CONFIRMED | evaluator |
| D35 | s4: IRC "April 2024 ($215 … about $5,500 …)"; Taimaka "November 2024 ($105 per child)" | GiveWell pages | OK | As L41–L42. | CONFIRMED | evaluator |
| D36 | s5: "R48956 … 13 October 2026"; "R48564, 17 February 2026" | CRS PDFs | OK | "Updated October 13, 2026"; "Updated February 17, 2026". | CONFIRMED (dates); see D9 for the newer report | primary |
| D37 | s6: "Congressional Management Foundation, Citizen-Centric Advocacy, 2017" | CMF PDF | OK (redirect) | "© 2017, Congressional Management Foundation." Title "Citizen-Centric Advocacy: The Untapped Power of Constituent Engagement". The congressfoundation.org URL 302-redirects to a Squarespace file; it still resolves. | CONFIRMED | primary |
| D38 | s9: "USDA ERS … updated 30 March 2026" | USDA ERS | OK | "Last updated: 3/30/2026". | CONFIRMED | primary |
| D39 | Footer: "The Congress section goes stale on 11 December 2026." | CRS | OK | As D5. | CONFIRMED | primary |
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4. Practice — content/child-hunger-practice.html
| # | Page says | Source | Fetch | Source says (verbatim) | Verdict | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P1 | Description: "a six-question drill"; body: "Six things people say." | The page | read | Six <details class="drill">. (The overview says five — see O9.) | CONFIRMED | internal |
| P2 | Today: "Put a reminder on 10 December" | CRS (Dec 11 deadline) | OK | As D5. | CONFIRMED (derived) | primary |
| P3 | Every month: "that's about a sixth of one child's treatment at $20" | Taimaka / GiveWell costs | OK | $20 ÷ $132 = 1/6.6; ÷ $105 = 1/5.2. | CONFIRMED (a fifth to a seventh) | derived |
| P4 | Every year: "November: GiveWell publishes its updated recommendations." | GiveWell FAQ https://www.givewell.org/about/FAQ; GiveWell top charities; GiveWell blog archives https://blog.givewell.org/2024/11/ and https://blog.givewell.org/2025/11/ | OK | FAQ: "Every year, we revisit our current Top Charities to assess whether they should remain on our list." Top charities page: "Last updated: October 2026". Blog Nov 2024: "GiveWell's 2024 Giving Recommendations" (November 26, 2024). Blog Nov 2025: no recommendations post ("November 2025 Updates"; "Help Us Respond to an Uncertain Future for Global Health", Nov 24, 2025). | CORRECTED → "Each autumn: GiveWell re-reviews its top charities (the page was last updated October 2026; in some years the giving-season post lands in late November)." GiveWell commits to yearly, not to November. | evaluator |
| P5 | "September to December: Congress sets next year's spending." | CRS R48956/R49343 | OK | FY2027 began under a CR signed 2 Sept 2026 running to 11 Dec 2026. | CONFIRMED in substance (a pattern statement) | primary |
| P6 | "relief follows the photographs and collapses when they stop, by one well-known study" — s2: Eisensee and Strömberg, QJE 2007, "Metadata confirmed; the paper itself wasn't read" | Crossref https://api.crossref.org/works/10.1162/qjec.122.2.693 (doi.org → OUP page shows title only) | OK | Title "News Droughts, News Floods, and U. S. Disaster Relief"; Eisensee, T.; Stromberg, D.; The Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol. 122, issue 2, pp. 693–728, 2007-05-01. No abstract in the record. | CONFIRMED (metadata only, as the page says) | research, unread |
| P7 | Drill 1: "2011 data … one every 14 seconds, about 2.2 million a year" | Black 2013; UN IGME | OK | As L2–L5. | CONFIRMED | research / primary → derived |
| P8 | Drill 2: "$47 buys one child's course … $100 to $200 … $1,500 to $5,500" | As L11–L14, D19 | OK | As above. | CONFIRMED (the UNICEF USA gift is unrestricted — D19 caveat applies if "buys" is kept) | mixed |
| P9 | Drill 3: "about a quarter of recovered children in one study fell back within six months" | IRC PDF | OK | "(26%)" among 420 children at 6 months. | CONFIRMED | charity's own |
| P10 | Drill 4: "Supply passed 3,000 calories a person a day in 2023 … The World Food Programme calls conflict the primary cause." | FAO; WFP | OK | As L9, L18. | CONFIRMED | primary |
| P11 | Drill 5: "Child deaths fell 63% from 1990 to 2023. Then aid fell sharply in 2025, and the Gates Foundation's model projects that year as the first rise this century." | IGME 2024 report; Goalkeepers PDF; Fortune | OK | As L15–L17. | CONFIRMED | primary / news |
| P12 | Drill 6: "'Women grow most of the world's food' … A widely repeated line with no data behind it; the UN food agency's own research found no basis." | Doss, FAO ESA Working Paper 11-04 (PDF at https://www.fao.org/4/am309e/am309e00.pdf; the fao.org/3 and openknowledge copies return 403) | OK (alt path) | "ESA Working Paper No. 11-04, March 2011"; opening quote "'Women produce between 60 and 80 percent of the food in most developing countries and are responsible for half of the world's food production.' (FAO, 1997)"; "While all of these claims represent a powerful truth –women are important food producers – the empirical content behind them is less clear"; "a claim of this kind does not have any literal meaning, and it does not lend itself to direct empirical tests"; "overall, there is no support for the 60-80% figure at a global scale." | CONFIRMED | primary |
| P13 | Drill 6: "Women are about half the farm and food workforce in sub-Saharan Africa" | FAO, The status of women in agrifood systems (2023), ch. 2 — page URL on openknowledge returned 401/403; read at FAO's mirror https://www.fao.org/3/cc5343en/online/status-women-agrifood-systems-2023/gender-work-agrifood-systems.html | 403→alt (OK) | "While globally a larger number of men than women are employed in agrifood systems, women constitute 50 percent of all agrifood-system workers in sub-Saharan Africa and over 40 percent of all agrifood-system workers in several other regions (Figure 2.2)." Also: "In many sub-Saharan African countries women constitute well over 50 percent of the agricultural labour force." | CONFIRMED | primary |
| P14 | Thirty seconds: "About two million young children a year … a carton of peanut paste and a weekly arm measurement; it costs a couple of hundred dollars a child … The money for it got cut in 2025." | As above | OK | $94–$215 per child; aid cuts (O5, L16). | CONFIRMED | mixed |
| P15 | Checklist: "Called both senators before 11 December 2026"; Feeding America by ZIP | CRS; Feeding America | OK | As D5, D26. | CONFIRMED | primary |
| P16 | s1: GiveWell "updated October 2026" | GiveWell | OK | "Last updated: October 2026". | CONFIRMED | evaluator |
| P17 | s3: UN IGME "March 2026"; Black 2013 | UNICEF; E-utilities | OK | As L38, L3. | CONFIRMED | primary / research |
| P18 | s4: IRC "July 2023 (26% relapse at six months in Mali)" | IRC PDF | OK | As L45. | CONFIRMED | charity's own |
| P19 | s5: FAO "October 2025"; WFP | FAO; WFP | OK | As L9, L18. | CONFIRMED | primary |
| P20 | s6: IGME; Goalkeepers via Fortune "4 December 2025" | Fortune; Goalkeepers PDF | OK | As L44, L17. | CONFIRMED (primary PDF available) | primary / news |
| P21 | s7: "Doss, FAO ESA working paper 11-04, 2011; FAO, The status of women in agrifood systems, 2023. Both read through summaries. [grade: primary, via summary]" | Doss PDF; FAO 2023 ch. 2 | OK | "ESA Working Paper No. 11-04 / March 2011"; FAO 2023 chapter 2 "Gender and Work in Agrifood Systems". Both now read in full (quotes in P12–P13). | NEWER DATA (grade upgrade) → drop "Both read through summaries" and the "via summary" label; link Doss to https://www.fao.org/4/am309e/am309e00.pdf and the FAO chapter to the fao.org/3/cc5343en mirror, which fetchers can reach | primary |
| P22 | Footer: "The 11 December date and the dollar figures in the call script expire with this year's spending bills." | CRS | OK | As D5, D23. | CONFIRMED | primary |
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5. CORRECTIONS box — tools/essays.py, "child-hunger" entry
| # | Box says | Source | Fetch | Source says (verbatim) | Verdict | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C1 | "'Every ten seconds' and 'three million a year' come from 2011 data. Applied to today's lower child death toll, the same share is about 2.2 million a year, roughly one every 14 seconds." | Black 2013; UN IGME | OK | As L2–L5. | CONFIRMED | research / primary → derived |
| C2 | "'Women produce the majority of food' has no firm source; the UN food agency's own research found no basis for it. Women are about half the farm and food workforce in sub-Saharan Africa." | Doss 2011; FAO 2023 | OK | "there is no support for the 60-80% figure at a global scale"; "women constitute 50 percent of all agrifood-system workers in sub-Saharan Africa". | CONFIRMED | primary |
| C3 | "Military spending was $2.89 trillion in 2025, more than the essay's 'over $2.5 trillion'." | SIPRI | OK (PDF) | "$2887 billion in 2025". | CONFIRMED | primary |
| C4 | "The debt comparison holds when domestic debt is counted. It isn't only debt owed to wealthy nations." | DFI; UNCTAD | OK | DFI: "It exceeds total spending on education, health and social protection combined by 20%" (debt service, 2025) — the DFI page does not say whether its measure includes domestic debt ("No sentence contains 'domestic'"). UNCTAD: "developing countries … source relatively less of their public debt from external sources"; "deepening domestic capital markets". | NOT IN SOURCE (partial) — "holds when domestic debt is counted" is not stated on either fetched page (the research notes took it from a DFI methodology snippet). Fix: "The debt comparison holds on total public debt service (DFI, UNCTAD). Developing countries now borrow more at home, so it isn't only debt owed to wealthy nations." | primary |
| C5 | "Child deaths fell 63% from 1990 to 2023, but the Gates Foundation's modelling projects 2025 as the first year this century they rose." | IGME 2024 report; Goalkeepers PDF | OK | As L15, L17. | CONFIRMED | primary |
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6. Arithmetic the pages do themselves (recomputed 5 Nov 2026)
| Page claim | Computation | Holds? |
|---|---|---|
| 0.45 × 4.9M = 2.2M; ÷ 365 ≈ 6,000/day; one every 14.3 s (Learn s1, Do lede, Practice drill 1) | 0.45 × 4,900,000 = 2,205,000; ÷ 365 = 6,041/day; 86,400 ÷ 6,041 = 14.3 s | Yes |
| "Every ten seconds / three million a year" = 2011 | 86,400 ÷ 10 × 365 = 3,153,600 ≈ Black's 3.1M (2011) | Yes |
| Under-five deaths fell 63% 1990→2023 | (12,980 − 4,777) ÷ 12,980 = 63.2% (rate 94→37 per 1,000 = −60.6%) | Yes |
| 1% of $2.89T = $29B | 0.01 × 2,887 = $28.87B | Yes |
| $29B treats 45M wasted children "several times over" | 45M × $94 = $4.2B (6.8×); × $105 = $4.7B (6.1×); × $215 = $9.7B (3.0×) | Yes (3–7×) |
| $20/month treats "about two children a year" | $240 ÷ $94 = 2.6; ÷ $105 = 2.3; ÷ $132 = 1.8; (÷ $215 = 1.1) | Yes at Taimaka/GiveWell-Taimaka costs; about one at IRC's cost |
| $240/yr ≈ 4% of one death prevented | 240 ÷ 5,487 = 4.4% | Yes |
| $20 ≈ "a sixth" of one treatment | 20 ÷ 132 = 1/6.6; 20 ÷ 105 = 1/5.2 | Roughly (a fifth to a seventh) |
| House bill cuts Food for Peace "by a quarter" | (1,200 − 900) ÷ 1,200 = 25.0% (CRS also prints −25.0%) | Yes |
| IRC "about a third less therapeutic food" | (193 − 122) ÷ 193 = 36.8%; IRC press release says 39% (Mali) | Yes |
| "$33 to $50" a carton | CHAI $32.50 floor; UNICEF "around US$50 on average" / $46.70 weighted average | Yes (supplier contracts run to ~$59) |
| "roughly two in five child deaths involve malnutrition" | 39.5% ≈ 2 in 5 | Yes |
7. Dated items in source/stale.tsv for this topic — status on 5 Nov 2026
| Date | Item | Status today |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-12-11 | FY2027 spending deadline; call script's $165M / $1.2B / $900M | Still live. P.L. 119-103 (signed 2 Sept 2026) funds government "through December 11, 2026" (CRS R48956, 13 Oct 2026). House passed Agriculture H.R. 8646 on 4 June 2026 (FFP $900M) and NSRP H.R. 8595 on 15 July 2026 (Nutrition $165M). Senate: "has not marked up a bill for FY2027 Agriculture appropriations" (CRS R49343, 10 Sep 2026); no Senate floor action on any FY2027 bill as of 9 Oct 2026 (Holland & Knight); The American Prospect, 5 Nov 2026: "The current continuing resolution (CR) expires on December 11." and "Congress has not yet passed any of the usual 12 appropriations bills." All three script figures are unchanged. Re-check after 11 Dec. |
| 2027-01-03 | New Congress seated; House-member line in the call section | Fixed by Amendment XX ("noon on the 3d day of January"). The 3 Nov 2026 election date is confirmed (2 U.S.C. §7; vote.nyc "November 3, 2026 General Election"). News today (Prospect) reports Democrats taking both chambers; not used on the pages and single-sourced. |
| 2026-12-05 | Monthly re-read of app menu paths on all Do pages | This topic has no app menu paths. Its click paths were all re-read today: GiveWell form (confirmed), ALIMA (labels corrected, D15), Taimaka (no monthly, confirmed), IRC monthly page (confirmed), Action Against Hunger Lifeline (confirmed), UNICEF USA product (confirmed with caveat), senate.gov / house.gov / Feeding America lookups (confirmed). |
8. Links on the pages that block automated fetch (content verified elsewhere)
savethechildren.net/...wonder-food...→ 403. Same release on savethechildren.org.uk (29 Aug 2025) and in Reuters (28 Aug 2025).openknowledge.fao.org/.../gender-work-agrifood-systems.html→ 401/403. Mirror:https://www.fao.org/3/cc5343en/online/status-women-agrifood-systems-2023/gender-work-agrifood-systems.html.pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23746772/and/40609560/→ cookie wall. Abstracts read via NCBI E-utilities.pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11624724/→ reCAPTCHA. Full text read via Europe PMC.market.unicefusa.org/inspired-gifts/nutrition/→ 403 to WebFetch; loads with a browser user-agent.congressfoundation.org/s/cmf-citizen-centric-advocacy.pdf→ 302 to a Squarespace file (resolves).doi.org/10.1162/qjec.122.2.693→ OUP page (title only); metadata via Crossref.
9. Summary by verdict
Counting the numbered rows that carry a verdict (126 rows: O 11, L 49, D 39, P 22, C 5; duplicates of the same fact on other pages are counted per page, as each page prints it; the two editorial rows marked n/a are excluded):
| Verdict | Count | Rows |
|---|---|---|
| CONFIRMED | 112 | all rows not listed below (several carry a wording or grade note: L30, L41, L45, D13, D25, D28, P3, P8) |
| CORRECTED | 7 | O9 (five→six-question drill); L6 (">100,000", undercount); L12 and D19 (UNICEF USA $47 gift is unrestricted); L33 (the Rubio denial is from his 21 May 2025 testimony, not the Reuters article); D15 (ALIMA labels "United States" / "Recurring donation"); P4 (GiveWell updates yearly, not "November") |
| NOT IN SOURCE | 3 | L21 ("private bondholders" not on UNCTAD's page — partial); D18 ("Also unrestricted across its programs" not on AAH's page); C4 ("holds when domestic debt is counted" not stated by DFI or UNCTAD — partial) |
| NEWER DATA | 2 | D9 (CRS R49343, 10 Sep 2026, is the dedicated FY2027 Agriculture report; add to s5); P21 (Doss and FAO 2023 now read in full — drop "via summary", use reachable links) |
| UNFETCHABLE | 0 | Every claim was read against the source or the organisation's own alternative copy (section 8) |
| Source upgrades (same data, better grade; optional) | 2 | L10 (SOFI 2026: FAO's own page, primary, instead of news only); L17/L44/P20 (Goalkeepers 2025 PDF, primary, instead of Fortune only) |
| n/a (argument or claim of absence) | 2 | O11 (the essay's argument), L35 ("Nobody has counted"); L36's second sentence ("No independent study…") is a claim of absence noted inside a CONFIRMED row |
Where the walk stops: the 45% share rests on Black 2013's modelling of 2011 data (not re-derived); the 92%/26% IRC figures are IRC's own research summary; GiveWell's per-death figures rest on "historical observational studies" by GiveWell's own account; the 2025 rise is IHME's projection, not a count.
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