Human Rights.- UNICEF warns that 181 million children under 5 years of age suffer from serious food poverty

The situation for nine out of ten children in the Gaza Strip is “catastrophic” since the start of Israel’s bombings

MADRID, 6 (EUROPA PRESS)

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has warned that 181 million children under 5 years of age – one in four – suffer from severe food poverty, which increases their chances of suffer emaciation, or pathological weight loss syndrome.

In its report ‘Child food poverty: Nutritional deprivation in early childhood’, UNICEF warns that, after analyzing the situation of the little ones in more than 100 countries, there are millions of them who cannot obtain or consume a nutritious diet. varied to maintain optimal development.

“Children who live in conditions of severe food poverty are in an extreme situation. This is the reality for millions of children and this can have irreversible negative repercussions for their survival, growth and development,” warned UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell.

“Children who only consume foods from two groups a day, for example, rice and some milk, are up to 50 percent more likely to suffer from severe forms of malnutrition,” he explained.

According to the report, children in serious nutritional situations have access to at most two of the eight defined food groups. Thus, four out of five who feed only on breast milk, dairy products and some food rich in starch, such as rice or corn.

While less than 10 percent eat fruits and vegetables, and less than 5 percent eat protein-rich products such as eggs, meat, and fish.

COLLAPSE IN THE GAZA STRIP

Of the 181 million children who are in this situation, 65 percent are spread across twenty countries. About 64 million of them are in Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

In Somalia, conflicts and climate crises caused by droughts and floods have caused 63 percent of children to live in a serious food situation, reaching 80 percent in the most vulnerable areas, where parents confess to not having been able to give them to eat for days on end.

The situation in the Gaza Strip is especially “catastrophic”, since the start of Israel’s attacks on October 7 and the restrictions imposed on the delivery of humanitarian aid. Between December 2023 and April 2024, UNICEF has found that one in ten children are at risk of severe starvation.

HOUSEHOLD INCOME AND PARENTAL DISABILITY

Although 46 percent of cases of severe food poverty occur in households with lower incomes, the report also reveals that the remaining percent, some 97 million children, are influenced by the inability of parents to implement healthy habits. healthier foods.

Thus, despite living in relatively richer households, those food systems in which parents are unable to adopt and maintain more positive and nutritious eating practices influence this food poverty.

UNICEF focuses on the use of sugary drinks and ultra-processed foods, which are cheaper and are marketed with aggressive strategies, in socioeconomic contexts in which they displace healthier foods. “They are the new normal in infant feeding,” she warns.

NOTABLE SUCCESSES

The United Nations agency also highlights notable successes achieved in the last decade in places traditionally hit by this and other crises such as Burkina Faso, where child food poverty rates have been reduced, from 67 percent in 2010 to 32 percent. cent in 2021.

Good results have also been recorded in Nepal, falling to 8 percent in 2022 after having been at 20 percent in 2011, a figure similar to that of Rwanda. Elsewhere, such as Peru, the rate has remained below 65 percent since 2014 despite the economic decline in recent years.

On the other hand, UNICEF once again appeals to governments, international organizations, civil society and large food producers to “urgently” transform the current food system.

In that sense, healthy and nutritious foods are more accessible and promoted than those that are not, health systems are used as spaces for support and advice, as well as developing social protection systems to address poverty in order to to respond to nutritional needs.