More than 30 million children under the age of five suffer from wasting or acute malnutrition caused by conflict, climate shock, the ongoing effects of COVID-19 Pandemic and the rising cost of living.
Children with this condition have a weakened immune system and are at higher risk of death of common childhood illnesses.
Eight million are severely wasted – the deadliest form of malnutrition – meaning they are 12 times more likely to die than children who are fed enough.
Crisis could get worse
the appeal was published by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO); the UN refugee agency UNHCR; the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Food Program (WFP) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
They urged the international community to accelerate progress the Global Action Plan against Child Wasting to prevent the growing crisis from turning into a tragedy.
Qu Dongyu, the FAO Director-General warned that the situation is likely to get even worse this year.
“We must ensure the availability, affordability and accessibility of healthy food for young children, girls and pregnant and lactating women. We must act urgently now to save lives and address the root causes of acute malnutrition by working together across sectors,” he said.
Five Priority Areas
The Global Action Plan aims to prevent, detect and treat acute child malnutrition in the countries hardest hit by the cascade crisis: Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Haiti, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali , Niger , Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Yemen.
It addresses necessity a multisectoral approach and highlights priority actions through maternal and child nutrition policy changes that target the food, health, water and sanitation, and social protection systems.
In view of the increasing needs, the UN agencies have set out five specific actions which will be effective in tackling acute malnutrition in countries affected by conflict and natural disasters and in humanitarian emergencies.
Analysis, prevention, assistance
These include improving the analysis of the determinants of wasting in children; Ensuring basic maternal and infant nutritional measures for early prevention, such as B. Regular check-ups, and introduction of specialized nutritious food products as part of the food emergency response
“At UNHCR, we are working hard to improve analytics and targeting to ensure we reach the most vulnerable children, including internally displaced people and refugees,” said Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
Scaling up these responses as a coordinated package will be critical both for prevention and treatment, and for saving lives, the partners stressed.
“So is the global food crisis a health crisis, and A vicious circle: Malnutrition leads to disease, and disease leads to malnutrition,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO general director.
“Urgent support is now needed in the hardest-hit countries to protect the lives and health of children, including ensuring critical access to healthy food and nutritional services, especially for women and children.”
