UNICEF said one in four children (27 per cent) is living in severe child food poverty in early childhood. This raises the number of affected childrento 181 million, and these are mostly under the age of five. Apart from Nigeria, South Africa and Ghana, other African countries are Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Niger, Uganda, Tanzania,Gambia, Somalia, Tunisia, Burkina Faso, and Rwanda.
Affected countries share history of conflict, terror attacks and political instability. So, it is not surprising that other countries on the list include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Pakistan, the Philippines and Yemen. There are also Nepal, Vietnam, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Montenegro, Albania and Tonga.
Child food poverty means the inability of children to be given access and be able to consume a nutritious and diverse diet in early childhood.
Not only that, UNICEF stated that unhealthy foods were becoming entrenched in the diets of these children. This development, according to the body, has brought about another source of concern, which is child undernutrition.
The report stated that “Across the world, millions of parents and families are struggling to provide nutritious and diverse foods that young children need to reach their full potential.” It said that the problem of parents are compounded by “Growing inequities, conflict, and climate crises, combined with rising food prices, the overabundance of unhealthy foods, (and) harmful food marketing strategies.”
UNICEF has, therefore, called on governments and partners to invest in actions to improve children’s access to diverse and nutritious diets and end severe child food poverty. It said, “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”.