Healthy eating is beyond limits for many children in the world. These kids from poor nations are malnourished and at risk of early deaths. United Nations agencies have urged for an urgent timely action to save these vulnerable children from perishing.
Malnutrition and children
There is an unprecedented food and nutrition crisis in the world. And it has worst hit 15 countries. This is due to climate change affecting food produce, the covid pandemic causing unemployment, conflicts, and rising food prices. All this has caused food to go outside the budget of many poor families. They go hungry and the worst affected are people who are dependent on others. These include kids who are facing an epidemic of malnutrition.
Malnourished child (Source: Down to earth)Over 30 million children mostly from 15 poor countries are acutely malnourished. And 8 million have severe wasting and are on the verge of dying. This has severely affected their growth and development and health. The long term impacts of all this would be bad.
United Nations agencies urge for immediate action
Five United Nations agencies have implored for fast and timely action in this matter to save the future generations. These agencies are the Food and Agriculture Organization or FAO, the UN Refugee Agency or UNHCR, the United Nations Children’s Fund or UNICEF, the World Food Programme or WFP, and the World Health Organization or WHO. They have called for an acceleration of the implementation of the Global Action Plan on Child Wasting.
Global Action Plan on Child Wasting (Source: Child Wasting)This plan aims to detect, treat, and prevent acute malnutrition in poor third world countries. These are in alphabetical order Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Haiti, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, the Niger, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, the Sudan and Yemen.
The plan is a multi-pronged one that prioritizes maternal and child nutrition. The food, water, sanitation, health facilities, and social protection systems should be better for these two groups. Priority actions should be carried out fast to overcome these problems and save the kids. This can avert a tragedy. And action is needed before it’s too late.
Expert say
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization stated:
“The global food crisis is also a health crisis, and a vicious cycle: malnutrition leads to disease, and disease leads to malnutrition,”
”Urgent support is needed now in the hardest hit countries to protect children’s lives and health, including ensuring critical access to healthy foods and nutrition services, especially for women and children.”
Action for child wasting (Source: Eleanor Crook Foundation)QU Dongyu, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations said:
“This situation is likely to deteriorate even further in 2023,”
“We must ensure availability, affordability and accessibility of healthy diets for young children, girls, and pregnant and lactating women. We need urgent action now to save lives, and to tackle the root causes of acute malnutrition, working together across all sectors.”
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Wasting occurs due to inadequate food and calories. There is loss of weight and growth with or without odema. Susceptibility to diseases increases and the diseases lead to more malnutrition. These kids have 12 times more chances of death.