Five bodies under the United Nations have demanded immediate action to safeguard the vulnerable children in Nigeria and the 14 other nations most severely impacted by the food and nutrition crisis.
In a press release on Thursday, the World Health Organization noted that a growing number of children are suffering from acute malnutrition, while access to vital health, nutrition, and other life-saving services is deteriorating due to conflict, climate shocks, COVID-19’s continuing effects, and rising living costs.
The statement said, in part: “Currently, more than 30 million children in the 15 worst-affected countries suffer from wasting – or acute malnutrition – and eight million of these children are severely wasted, the deadliest form of undernutrition.
“This is a major threat to children’s lives and their long-term health and development, the impacts of which are felt by individuals, their communities, and their countries.
“In response, five UN agencies – the Food and Agriculture Organisation, the UN Refugee Agency, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the World Food Programme, and the World Health Organisation are calling for accelerated progress on the Global Action Plan on Child Wasting.
“It aims to prevent, detect and treat acute malnutrition among children in the worst-affected countries, which are Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Haiti, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, the Niger, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Yemen.
“The Global Action Plan addresses the need for a multi-sectoral approach and highlights priority actions across maternal and child nutrition through the food, health, water and sanitation, and social protection systems.”
To keep the crisis from turning into a tragedy for the world’s most vulnerable kids, the UN agencies demand prompt and urgent action.
“This situation is likely to deteriorate even further in 2023.
The Director-General of FAO, Qu Dongyu, “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.”
The Director General of WHO, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, said, “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.”
