UNICEF report reveals severe child food poverty amid world crises by Harriet Torlesse UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF)   June 2024   Some 181 million children worldwide under 5 years of age – or 1 in 4 – are experiencing severe child food poverty, making them up to 50 per cent more likely to experience wasting, a life-threatening form of malnutrition, a new UNICEF report reveals today.   “Children living in severe food poverty are children living on the brink. Right now, that is the reality for millions of young children, and this can have an irreversible negative impact on their survival, growth and brain development,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell.   “Children who consume just two food groups per day, for example rice and some milk, are up to 50 per cent more likely to experience severe forms of malnutrition.”   The report Child Food Poverty: Nutrition Deprivation in Early Childhood analyses the impacts and causes of dietary deprivation among the world’s youngest people in nearly 100 countries, and across income groups. It warns that millions of children under the age of five are unable to access and consume a nutritious and diverse diet to sustain optimal growth and development in early childhood and beyond.   Children who consume, at most, two of eight defined food groups are considered to be in severe child food poverty. Four out of five children in this situation are fed only breastmilk/milk and/or a starchy staple, such as rice, maize or wheat. Less than 10 per cent of these children are fed fruits and vegetables. And less than 5 per cent are fed nutrient-dense foods such as eggs, fish, poultry, or meat.   The report warns that while countries are still recovering from the socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the effects of growing inequities, conflicts, and the climate crisis have pushed food prices and the cost of living to record high levels.   Of the 181 million children living in severe food poverty, 65 per cent reside in just 20 countries. Around 64 million affected children are in South Asia, and 59 million are in Sub-Saharan Africa.   In Somalia, a country experiencing conflict, drought and floods, 63 per cent of children are living in severe child food poverty and in the most vulnerable communities, over 80 per cent of caregivers reported that their child had been unable to eat for an entire day.   In the Gaza Strip, months of hostilities and restrictions on humanitarian aid have collapsed the food and health systems, resulting in catastrophic consequences for children and their families. Five rounds of data collected between December 2023 and April 2024 have consistently found that 9 out of 10 children in the Gaza Strip are experiencing severe food poverty, surviving on two or fewer food groups per day.   This is evidence of the horrific impact the conflict and restrictions are having on families’ ability to meet children’s food needs – and the speed at which it places children at risk of life-threatening malnutrition.   The report finds nearly half (46 per cent) of all cases of severe child food poverty are among poor households where income poverty is likely to be a major driver.   Several factors are fueling the child food poverty crisis, including food systems that fail to provide children with nutritious, safe and accessible options and families’ inability to afford nutritious foods.   In many contexts, cheap, nutrient-poor and unhealthy ultra-processed foods and sugar-sweetened beverages are aggressively marketed to parents and families and are the new normal for feeding children.   These unhealthy foods and beverages are consumed by an alarming proportion of young children experiencing food poverty, displacing more nutritious and healthier foods from their daily diets.   Child food poverty harms all children, but it is particularly damaging in early childhood when insufficient dietary intake of essential nutrients can cause the greatest harm to child survival, physical growth, and cognitive development, trapping children and their families in a cycle of poverty and deprivation.   Call to action: Ending severe child food poverty   The scale of severe child food poverty, the slow progress over the past decade, and the impacts of severe child food poverty on child survival, growth and development demand a step change in commitment, actions and accountability.   To address child malnutrition governments and partners must invest in actions to improve children’s access to diverse and nutritious diets and end severe child food poverty.   UNICEF calls on national governments, development and humanitarian partners, donors, civil society and media, academic and research organizations to:   Elevate child food poverty reduction as a requirement for achieving global and national nutrition and development goals and a metric of success in meeting children’s right to food and nutrition; and commit resources to end child food poverty.   Transform food systems by ensuring food environments make nutritious, diverse and healthy foods the most accessible, affordable and desirable option for feeding young children, and the food and beverage industry complies with policies to protect children from unhealthy foods and beverages.   Leverage health systems to deliver essential nutrition services, including counselling and support on child feeding, to prevent and treat child malnutrition, prioritizing the most vulnerable children.   Activate social protection systems to address income poverty in ways that are responsive to the food and nutrition needs of the most vulnerable children and their families, including social transfers to protect children at highest risk of child food poverty.   Strengthen data systems to assess the prevalence and severity of child food poverty; detect increases in child food poverty early, including in fragile and humanitarian contexts; and track national and global progress in reducing severe child food poverty.   http://www.unicef.org/child-health-and-survival/child-food-poverty Visit the related web page
	1.4 billion children globally missing out on basic social protection by Save the Children, ILO, UNICEF   Globally, 1.4 billion children aged 0-15 lack any form of social protection, leaving them vulnerable to disease, poor nutrition and poverty, according to new data released by the International Labour Organization (ILO), Save the Children and UNICEF.   In low-income countries, less than one in ten children in this age group have access to child benefits, highlighting a significant disparity compared to the coverage enjoyed by children in high-income countries.   Child benefits are a critical form of social protection, intended to promote the long-term wellbeing of children. Paid in cash or tax credits, child benefits are essential for reducing poverty, as well as accessing healthcare, nutrition, quality education and water and sanitation. Additionally, these benefits support socio-economic development, particularly in times of crisis.   In such contexts, many children are deprived of the basic resources and services they need to escape poverty, and are therefore exposed to the long-lasting impacts of hunger, malnutrition, and unrealised potential.   The three organisations are calling on governments to ensure all children are shielded by social protection mechanisms, including through universal child benefits.   The data shows there has been a modest global increase in access to child benefits over a period of 14 years, from 20% in 2009 to 28.1% in 2023. However, the progress has been unequal. In low-income countries, rates of coverage remain staggeringly low, at around 9%. At the same time, 84.6% of children in high-income countries are covered.   Coverage rates for children in countries that are highly vulnerable to climate impacts are a third lower than those in countries that are not classified as being at high risk. Ensuring children are covered by social protection is key to protecting them from the worst impacts of the climate crisis.   “Globally, there are 333 million children living in extreme poverty, struggling to survive on less than US$2.15 per day, and nearly 1 billion children living in multidimensional poverty. At the current rate of progress, achieving the Sustainable Development Goals’ poverty targets are out of reach. This is unacceptable.   However, ending child poverty is a policy choice. Expanding social protection coverage of children in the fight against poverty is critical, including the progressive realisation of universal child benefits,” said Natalia Winder Rossi, Director, Social Policy and Social Protection, UNICEF.   “This is a crisis for the over one billion children who are not covered by benefits, and for the countries in which they live. There is an urgent need for effective policymaking to help us close protection gaps. Regional inequalities in coverage and progress are of serious concern – improvement in child benefit coverage is marginal in most regions and too many children are still being left behind.” said Shahra Razavi, Director of the Social Protection Department at the ILO.   To bolster efforts to monitor and reduce the gaps in child benefit coverage, Save the Children, ILO and UNICEF have developed the Global Child Benefits Tracker, an online platform to monitor children’s access to benefits, and advocate with governments and donors to close the gaps. The launch comes at a critical time when most recent data shows that 829 million children globally are living in households with per-person incomes below US$3.65 a day and progress on child poverty reduction has largely stalled.   “Child benefits support families to afford better nourishment, health, education, and protection and are key for realising children’s rights and enhancing their potential as adults. Child benefits are therefore critical to building inclusive and resilient economies for the future. Unfortunately, many countries have not prioritised investment in social protection.   Through the Child Benefits Tracker, we highlight the scale of global child poverty and examples of progress to inspire greater political will and investment in child-sensitive social protection systems,” said David Lambert Tumwesigye, Global Policy & Advocacy Lead for Child Poverty at Save the Children International.   The three agencies urge policymakers and donors to take decisive steps to attain universal social protection for all children, by:   Building social protection systems that are rights-based, gender-responsive, inclusive, and shock-responsive to address inequities and deliver better results for girls and women, children with disabilities, migrant children, and children in child labour for example.   Closing protection gaps require filling the ‘financing gap’. This means investing in child benefits for all children offers a proven and cost-effective way to combat child poverty and ensure children thrive.   Providing a comprehensive range of child benefits through national social protection systems that also connect families to crucial health and social services, such as free or affordable high-quality childcare.   Securing sustainable financing for social protection systems by mobilising domestic resources and increasing public investment in children.   Strengthening social protection for parents and caregivers by guaranteeing access to decent work and adequate benefits, including unemployment, sickness, maternity, disability, and pensions.   http://www.savethechildren.net/news/14-billion-children-globally-missing-out-basic-social-protection-according-latest-data http://www.childbenefitstracker.org/ http://www.childbenefitstracker.org/post/child-poverty-and-the-climate-crisis http://www.endchildhoodpoverty.org/publications-feed/climatechange http://www.childbenefitstracker.org/community http://childatlas.org/blog/social-protection http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/number-children-without-critical-social-protection-increasing-globally http://www.unicef.org/documents/urgent-need-for-universal-social-protection http://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_869722/lang--en/index.htm http://news.un.org/en/story/2023/03/1134037   * The urgent need to build universal social protection for children; ILO–UNICEF joint report (136pp): http://uni.cf/41ReKpc Visit the related web page
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