Conflicts, climatic shocks, COVID-19’s continuing effects, and rising living costs, according to the UN, are contributing to an increase in the number of severely undernourished children.
The most vulnerable children in 15 countries, which have been hardest hit by an unprecedented food and nutrition crisis, are in need of urgent protection, according to UN agencies.
Five UN agencies issued a statement that included the call.
The UN reportedly identified a number of nations that are being particularly hard-hit by the unprecedented food and nutrition crises.
Conflicts, climatic shocks, COVID-19’s continuing effects, and rising living costs, are contributing to the acute malnutrition of an increasing number of children.
The availability of essential health, nutrition, and other life-saving services is declining at the same time as this.
Currently, eight million of the 30 million children in the 15 countries with the worst impacts are severely wasted, the most lethal form of undernutrition. These children suffer from acute malnutrition.
According to the report, “This is a serious threat to children’s lives, long-term health, and development, with consequences felt by individuals, their communities, and their countries.”
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The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), World Food Program (WFP), and World Health Organization were listed as the five UN agencies (WHO).
The Global Action Plan on Child Wasting should move more quickly, according to the statement.
“This is intended to prevent, detect, and treat acute malnutrition in children in the four worst-affected nations—Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Chad, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Others include Yemen, Somalia, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Haiti, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Niger, and Nigeria.
It was stated that the food, health, water and sanitation, and social protection systems were used to implement the Global Action Plan, which addressed the need for a multi-sectoral approach and highlighted priority actions across maternal and child nutrition.
In response to growing needs, the UN agencies, it is stated, have identified five priority actions that will effectively address acute malnutrition in nations affected by natural disasters, armed conflict, and humanitarian crises.
According to the report, stepping up these initiatives in a coordinated manner will be essential for preventing and treating pediatric acute malnutrition and averting a tragic loss of life.
“The UN agencies demand prompt and decisive action to stop this crisis from turning into a tragedy for the most vulnerable children around the world.
“Before it is too late,” it urged, “all agencies urge for greater investment in support of a coordinated UN response that will meet the unprecedented needs of this growing crisis.”
The FAO’s Director-General, Mr. QU Dongyu, stated that the situation is likely to get worse in 2023.
“We must make sure that young children, girls, and pregnant and lactating women can access, afford, and consume healthy diets.
He stated that urgent action was required in order to save lives and combat the underlying causes of acute malnutrition.
The UN system is responding to the crisis as a whole, according to Filippo Grandi, High Commissioner for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
He claims that the UN Global Action Plan on Child Wasting is our collective effort to stop, identify, and treat wasting around the world.
Grandi stated that the UNHCR is making a lot of effort to enhance analysis and targeting in order to ensure that they reach populations of internally displaced people and refugees as well as children who are most at risk.
According to UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell, cascading crises have made it more difficult for millions of children to access essential services and have wasted their potential.
According to Ms. Russell, casting hurts the child and, in extreme cases, can result in death or long-term harm to a child’s growth and development.
She asserted that by implementing tried-and-true strategies to prevent, identify, and treat child wasting early on, they can and must reverse the nutrition crisis.
More than 30 million children in the 15 worst-affected countries suffer from acute malnutrition, according to David Beasley, Executive Director of the World Food Programme, so immediate and coordinated action is required.
According to Mr. Beasley, cooperation is essential to bolstering social safety nets and food assistance so that women and children who most need specialized nutritious foods can access them.
“The global food crisis is also a health crisis, and a vicious cycle, where malnutrition leads to disease and disease leads to malnutrition,” said Tedros Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO).
He stated that in order to safeguard the lives and health of children in the most severely affected nations, immediate assistance is required. This assistance must include securing crucial access to nutritious foods and nutrition services, particularly for women and children.
