‘Around 181 million of children under 5 years age are experiencing severe food poverty’
Around 181 million children worldwide under 5 years of age, or one in four, are experiencing severe child food poverty, UNICEF has warned today.
News Center- Around 181 million children worldwide under 5 years of age, or one in four, are experiencing severe child food poverty, making them up to 50 per cent more likely to experience wasting, a life-threatening form of malnutrition, UNICEF’s global report “Child Food Poverty” reveals on Thursday.
The report analyses the impacts and causes of dietary deprivation among the world’s youngest people in nearly 100 countries, and across income groups and warns that millions of children under the age of five are unable to access and consume a nutritious and diverse diet to sustain optimal growth and development in early childhood and beyond.
“Of the 181 million children living in severe food poverty, 65 per cent reside in just 20 countries. Around 64 million affected children are in South Asia, and 59 million are in Sub-Saharan Africa,” the report says.
‘Children living in severe food poverty are children living on the brink’
“Children living in severe food poverty are children living on the brink. Right now, that is the reality for millions of young children, and this can have an irreversible negative impact on their survival, growth and brain development,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. “Children who consume just two food groups per day, for example rice and some milk, are up to 50 per cent more likely to experience severe forms of malnutrition.”
Gaza: Nine out of 10 children are experiencing severe food poverty
The report notes the current circumstances in the Gaza Strip, where Israel's military offensive has been going on since October 7, 2024 “have brought the food and health systems to collapse.”
“Five rounds of data collected between December 2023 and April 2024 have consistently found that 9 out of 10 children in the Gaza Strip are experiencing severe food poverty, surviving on two or fewer food groups per day.”
To end child food poverty, UNICEF calls on governments, development and humanitarian organizations, donors, civil society and the food and beverage industry to urgently take a step.