Hyderabad: In an alarming development believed to be ominous for the food safety in the country, India is among the top 20 nations with severe child food poverty, a recent report by the UNICEF report has revealed.
According to the UNICEF report titled 'Child Food Poverty-Nutrition Deprivation in Early Childhood', India along with its neighbouring countries including China, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan figures among the 20 countries with "severe child food poverty". The said Asian countries are home to 65% of the 181 million children globally living "severe child food poverty", the report said.
The UNICEF has defined child food poverty as children’s inability to access and consume a nutritious and diverse diet in early childhood and it is measured using the UNICEF and WHO dietary diversity score.
Somalia is the worst affected in terms of the child food poverty while Belarus is the least affected country as per the UNICEF report. The UNICEF report has divided the countries into low, medium and high categories with India figuring in the high risk category.
The UNICEF report has made alarming revelation about child food poverty with one in four children today is living in severe food poverty. "This means that they are surviving on one or two food groups a day, and on some days even less. The scale of this deprivation is alarming, and the overall slow progress to address this crisis hides deep inequalities at both global and regional levels," the report said.
"To put it into stark numbers, this means that 181 million children are not having the equal opportunity to grow, develop, and learn to their full potential. They risk falling into a cycle of malnutrition and poverty that will have consequences for them today and into the future; for their children and for generations to come," it added.
In terms of the drivers of food poverty in early childhood, the report found that household income is not the sole determinant of protecting children from food poverty. "In fact, while almost half of children experiencing severe child food poverty live in poor households, more than half belong to households where factors other than income drive child food poverty," it said.
