Thu, 12 January 2023
The United Nations called Thursday for urgent funding to help 30 million children suffering from acute malnutrition "before it is too late" in countries being hammered by the food crisis.
UN agencies said conflict, climate shocks, the Covid-19 pandemic and rising living costs were leaving an increasing number of children badly malnourished.
"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," five UN agencies said in a joint statement.
The 15 countries are Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Haiti, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Yemen.
Soaring food prices were aggravating food shortages and displacing populations, the UN said, as well as hindering access to affordable essential nutrition.
The joint statement called for greater investment to support its efforts to meet the "unprecedented needs of this growing crisis, before it is too late".
Its plan aims to prevent, detect and treat acute malnutrition among children with interventions in the food, health, water and sanitation, and social protection systems.
"This situation is likely to deteriorate even further in 2023," said Food and Agriculture Organization chief Qu Dongyu.
"We must ensure availability, affordability and accessibility of healthy diets," it said.
The joint agency plan will target children aged under five; pregnant and breastfeeding women; and women and caregivers of children under five.
"Today's cascading crises are leaving millions of children wasted and have made it harder for them to access key services," said Catherine Russell, head of the UN children's agency UNICEF.
"Wasting is painful for the child, and in severe cases, can lead to death or permanent damage to children's growth and development," she said.
"We can and must turn this nutrition crisis around through proven solutions to prevent, detect, and treat child wasting early."
Children with acute malnutrition have weakened immune systems and are at higher risk of dying from common childhood diseases.
Those that survive could face lifelong growth and development challenges.
"The global food crisis is also a health crisis, and a vicious cycle: malnutrition leads to disease, and disease leads to malnutrition," said World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
"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."
A child or youth died once every 4.4 seconds in 2021 – UN report
Another 1.9 million babies were tragically stillborn during the same period, according to a separate UN report.
NEW YORK/GENEVA/WASHINGTON D.C., 10 January 2023 – An estimated 5 million children died before their fifth birthday and another 2.1 million children and youth aged between 5–24 years lost their lives in 2021, according to the latest estimates released by the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME).
In a separate report also released today, the group found that 1.9 million babies were stillborn during the same period. Tragically, many of these deaths could have been prevented with equitable access and high-quality maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health care.
“Every day, far too many parents are facing the trauma of losing their children, sometimes even before their first breath,” said Vidhya Ganesh, UNICEF Director of the Division of Data Analytics, Planning and Monitoring. “Such widespread, preventable tragedy should never be accepted as inevitable. Progress is possible with stronger political will and targeted investment in equitable access to primary health care for every woman and child.”
The reports show some positive outcomes with a lower risk of death across all ages globally since 2000. The global under-5 mortality rate fell by 50% since the start of the century, while mortality rates in older children and youth dropped by 36%, and the stillbirth rate decreased by 35%. This can be attributed to more investments in strengthening primary health systems to benefit women, children and young people.
However, gains have reduced significantly since 2010, and 54 countries will fall short of meeting the Sustainable Development Goals target for under-5 mortality. If swift action is not taken to improve health services, warn the agencies, almost 59 million children and youth will die before 2030, and nearly 16 million babies will be lost to stillbirth.
“It is grossly unjust that a child’s chances of survival can be shaped just by their place of birth, and that there are such vast inequities in their access to lifesaving health services,” said Dr Anshu Banerjee, Director for Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health and Ageing at the World Health Organization (WHO). “Children everywhere need strong primary health care systems that meet their needs and those of their families, so that – no matter where they are born – they have the best start and hope for the future.”
Children continue to face wildly differentiating chances of survival based on where they are born, with sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia shouldering the heaviest burden, the reports show. Though sub-Saharan Africa had just 29% of global live births, the region accounted for 56% of all under-5 deaths in 2021, and southern Asia for 26% of the total. Children born in sub-Saharan Africa are subject to the highest risk of childhood death in the world – 15 times higher than the risk for children in Europe and northern America.
Mothers in these 2 regions also endure the painful loss of babies to stillbirth at an exceptional rate, with 77% of all stillbirths in 2021 occurring in sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia. Nearly half of all stillbirths happened in sub-Saharan Africa. The risk of a woman having a stillborn baby in sub-Saharan Africa is 7 times more likely than in Europe and North America.
“Behind these numbers are millions of children and families who are denied their basic rights to health,” said Juan Pablo Uribe, Global Director for Health, Nutrition and Population, World Bank and Director of the Global Financing Facility. “We need political will and leadership for sustained financing for primary health care which is one of the best investments countries and development partners can make.”
Access to and availability of quality health care continues to be a matter of life or death for children globally. Most child deaths occur in the first five years, of which half are within the first month of life. For these youngest babies, premature birth and complications during labour are the leading causes of death. Similarly, more than 40% of stillbirths occur during labour – most of which are preventable when women have access to quality care throughout pregnancy and birth. For children that survive past their first 28 days, infectious diseases like pneumonia, diarrhoea and malaria pose the biggest threat.
While COVID-19 has not directly increased childhood mortality – with children facing a lower likelihood of dying from the disease than adults – the pandemic may have increased future risks to their survival. In particular, the reports highlight concerns around disruptions to vaccination campaigns, nutrition services, and access to primary health care, which could jeopardize their health and well-being for many years to come. In addition, the pandemic has fuelled the largest continued backslide in vaccinations in three decades, putting the most vulnerable newborns and children at greater risk of dying from preventable diseases.
The reports also note gaps in data, which could critically undermine the impact of policies and programmes designed to improve childhood survival and well-being.
“The new estimates highlight the remarkable global progress since 2000 in reducing mortality among children under age 5,” said John Wilmoth, Director, UN DESA Population Division. “Despite this success, more work is needed to address persistent large differences in child survival across countries and regions, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Only by improving access to quality health care, especially around the time of childbirth, will we be able to reduce these inequities and end preventable deaths of newborns and children worldwide.”
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Notes to editors:
The two reports – Levels & Trends in Child Mortality and Never Forgotten – are the first of a series of important data sets released in 2023, with UN maternal mortality figures to be published later this year.
Download multimedia content here.
Access the report and data here and stillbirth report here
About UN IGME
The United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation or UN IGME was formed in 2004 to share data on child mortality, improve methods for child mortality estimation, report on progress towards child survival goals and enhance country capacity to produce timely and properly assessed estimates of child mortality. UN IGME is led by UNICEF and includes the World Health Organization, the World Bank Group and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division.
For more information visit: Child Mortality
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