More than 180 million children are not getting any of the nutrition they need, according to a UNICEF report. The problem is so severe that children are suffering the devastating effects of malnutrition, according to the report. However, evidence shows that some countries can reduce what the report says is malnutrition. Child food poverty.
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We often hear that many children around the world are not getting enough to eat. But what does that mean specifically? And what does it mean to be “not enough”?
In parts of East Africa, babies are fed a porridge made from breast milk and corn, in Yemen a paste made just from flour and water, and in war zones like Gaza they are given fresh lemons and weeds.
A new UNICEF report brings together these details and other data from 137 low- and middle-income countries to paint a picture of what young children are eating, what that means for their growth, and the state of child development around the world.
And the results were astonishing.
One in four children under the age of five lives in what the study authors call “severe food poverty,” meaning they eat two or fewer food groups per day.
“There are 181 million children who are not being fed the diet they need to survive,” said Harriet Torres, a UNICEF nutrition expert and lead author of the report. “When you think about these diets, they don’t actually provide a range of vitamins, minerals and proteins that children need to grow and develop.”
Nutrition experts told NPR that the figures in the UNICEF report show the world is not making progress in tackling malnutrition and hunger. The COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, inflation and regional conflicts have all contributed to disruptions to food supplies and rising food prices.
The report also features some good news: some low-income countries have figured out how to get more and better food to children under five.
Here are four takeaways from the report:
Not only are kids not eating enough, they’re eating the wrong foods
Richmond Arriety, professor of nutrition and head of the Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health at the University of Ghana in Accra, explains access to nutritious food across Africa in two ways.
“Some of those who do not have enough food fall below the full poverty threshold. Others have access to enough food but are forced to eat unhealthy foods.”
Experts say aggressive advertising of snack foods and sugary drinks, which often target children, plays a big role, making the industry harder to regulate in lower-income countries.
“One of the things about these snack foods is that they’re very cheap and very filling, so people want to buy them,” said Deanna Olney, director of nutrition, diets and health at the International Food Policy Research Institute.
“But if taxes make them more expensive, parents may be less inclined to choose them for their children,” Olney said.
The prevalence of ultra-processed foods also likely contributes to the rise in overweight and obesity among children, an issue that Olney says needs more attention.
In Gaza, stark figures show how the conflict is causing extreme hunger among children.
While conflict is not the leading cause of child hunger around the world, it causes some of the worst cases in countries like Sudan, Somalia and Gaza.
Displaced Palestinian children line up to receive food distributed to their families by a charity organization at Quds School in Rafah, Gaza Strip, April 1, 2024.
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According to data collected by UNICEF, nine in 10 children in the Gaza Strip have experienced severe food insecurity since December last year.
“Children in Gaza are currently eating very little nutritious food,” said UNICEF’s Harriet Torres. “Before the war in Gaza, only 13 percent of children lived in severe food poverty.”
Experts say Gaza has some of the highest rates of severe malnutrition on record, as technological advances make it easier to more accurately measure food intake in conflict zones.
Severe child food poverty leads to high rates of wasting and stunting
For many children who suffer from severe food poverty, this poses a major risk, with far-reaching implications for global development.
According to a UNICEF analysis, these children are 50 percent more likely to suffer from wasting, a life-threatening sign of malnutrition, where the child is too thin for their height. More than 13 million children under the age of five suffer from a severe form of the condition.
“We know these children don’t do well in school, they have lower incomes as adults and struggle to escape poverty, so not only do they suffer throughout their lives, but their children are more likely to suffer from malnutrition,” says Harriet Torres.
A health worker screens children for malnutrition in Kafda camp for internally displaced persons near Mogadishu, Somalia. Most children arrive severely malnourished and some die. Prolonged drought and armed conflict in the region have forced thousands to flee their homes.
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Malnutrition stunts not only physical growth but also brain development, preventing children from reaching their full potential. Even when they reach adulthood, they are less able to contribute fully to the productivity of their communities and countries than children who have access to nutritious food.
“In 2016, there was a study commissioned to look at the cost of hunger in Ghana,” says Richmond-Arriety. “It estimated that Ghana was losing close to $6.4 million a year because of children who weren’t being fed enough. That’s a lot of money being lost because we’re not feeding our children enough.”
The good news? There is a solution
Several low-income countries, including Nepal and Burkina Faso, have managed to halve their rates of severe child food poverty; Rwanda has cut it by a third. Experts say these countries have several common factors that have led to their success.
“First, they have all made serious, deliberate efforts to improve local supplies of nutritious foods — whether it’s beans, vegetables, or chicken,” says Harriet Torres. Nutrition experts say that countries that are less dependent on food imports have a better chance of minimizing hunger.
Other countries are also dealing with the influx of ultra-processed foods: in Peru, for example, the government has introduced legislation requiring processed foods and drinks to carry warning labels stating their sugar, fat and salt content, and imposed a 25% tax on high-sugar drinks.
“In Nepal, we have seen that nationwide cash transfers to poor households have increased the purchase of nutritious foods such as meat and pulses,” Torres says, “and there are serious efforts within the health system to provide families with the counselling and support they need to help parents understand how to best feed their children with nutritious foods that are locally available.”
Still, Richmond-Ariti says a broader approach is needed to tackle child hunger: “We’re putting a man on the moon. We’re doing all kinds of technological advances, and we’re still not feeding children. It’s really disappointing.”
