COVID-19 could push nearly 7 million children towards hunger and malnutrition, says UN

The coronavirus pandemic is hampering food distribution across the world and is severely impacting children, say heads of the four United Nations body - WHO, World Food Programme, UNICEF, and FAO, in an analysis published in The Lancet journal. The leaders of these organizations wrote that the crisis is undermining nutrition across the globe, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.

New Delhi:Nearly 7 million children worldwide could suffer from acute malnutrition due to the unprecedented economic and health crisis caused by coronavirus pandemic, the Union Nations said in an analysis published on Tuesday.

According to the analysis, 80 % of these children would be from, sub-Sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia.

"COVID-19 pandemic is undermining nutrition across the world particularly in low- and middle-income countries, with the worst consequences being borne by young children. More children and women are becoming malnourished due to the deteriorating quality of their diets, the interruption of nutrition services, and the shocks created by the pandemic," said heads of the four UN body - WHO, World Food Programme, UNICEF, and FAO, in the analysis published in The Lancet journal.

Pointing out that disruption in food supply chain has brought down the quality of children's diet, it said, "Household poverty and food insecurity rates have increased. Essential nutrition services and supply chains have been disrupted. Food prices have soared. As a result, the quality of children’s diets has gone down and malnutrition rates will go up."

While informing that children under the age of five would be worst-affected resulting in wasting among the young population, the report said that it is a life-threatening form of malnutrition, which makes children too thin and weak, and puts them at greater risk of dying poor growth, development and learning.

According to experts, even before COVID-19, there were an estimated 47 million children under five who were moderately or severely wasted, most living in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. Now as lockdowns and international trade routes disrupt vital aid supplies, the United Nations has warned that the coronavirus pandemic could have an "intergenerational effect" on the health of millions.

Putting forward the percentage by which wasting would increase among children this year, the analysis said, "The prevalence of wasting among children under the age of five could increase by 14.3 per cent in low- and middle-income countries this year, due to the socio-economic impacts of COVID-19."

The leaders in the analysis said that the agencies have estimated a minimum of $2.4 billion is immediately needed to protect these children.

They also said that the COVID-19 pandemic is also expected to increase other forms of child malnutrition, including stunting, micronutrient deficiencies, and overweight.

The global community's failure to act now will have devastating long-term consequences for children, human capital, and national economies, UN warned.