On Thursday, the United Nations issued a “before it’s too late” appeal to raise funds to help the 30 million acutely malnourished children in countries hit by food crises.
The five UN agencies confirmed in a joint statement that “more than 30 million children in the 15 most affected countries suffer from wasting – acute malnutrition – and eight million of those children suffer from severe wasting, the deadliest form of malnutrition.”
15 affected countries: Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Haiti, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan and Yemen.
Soaring food prices exacerbate food insecurity and make it difficult to access affordable staples. According to these agencies, conflicts, climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic have exacerbated the situation.
Until it’s not too late
“This situation is likely to worsen further in 2023,” warned Qu Dongyu, director general of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
UN agencies are calling for more investment to support their efforts to meet “the unprecedented needs arising from this growing crisis before it’s too late.”
Institutions strive to prevent, detect and treat severe acute malnutrition in children through food, health, water, hygiene and social safety nets. Donyo stressed the need to ensure that healthy food is “accessible, affordable and affordable”.
The action plan will cover children under the age of five, pregnant and lactating women, and mothers and caregivers of children under the age of five.
“Current crises leave millions of children severely malnourished and make it difficult for them to access basic services,” said UNICEF Executive Director Katherine Russell.
vicious circle
“Wasting is a source of suffering for children and, in severe cases, can lead to death or permanent impairment of children’s growth and development,” she added.
Russell indicated that this crisis needed to be addressed with “proven solutions to avoid malnutrition in children and to detect and treat it early.”
Severely malnourished children have weakened immune systems and are more likely to die from common childhood illnesses.
For his part, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: “The global food crisis is also a health crisis, in addition to being a vicious circle: malnutrition leads to disease and disease leads to malnutrition.”
“Now in the most affected countries, urgent support is needed to protect the lives and health of children,” he concluded.
