ABUJA, 7 June 2024 – Nearly 11 million children in Nigeria – one in three children under the age of five – live in severe child food poverty and are up to 50 percent more likely to experience wasting, a life-threatening form of malnutrition, a new UNICEF report said today.
For the first time, the Child Food Poverty: Early Childhood Undernutrition report analyses the impacts and causes of food insecurity among the world's youngest and most vulnerable children under five years of age across nearly 100 countries and income groups. Globally, 181 million children under five years of age who consume at most two of eight defined food groups are considered severely food poor and unable to sustain optimal growth and development beyond early childhood. Nigeria is one of 20 countries that account for almost two-thirds (65%) of the 181 million children who are severely food poor.
Four out of five children worldwide experience food poverty. [NH1] Fewer than 10 percent of children are fed only breast milk or cow's milk or starchy staples like rice, corn and wheat; fewer than 5 percent eat nutritious foods like eggs, fish, poultry and meat.
The report warns that while countries are still recovering from the socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, rising inequalities, conflict and the climate crisis are pushing food prices and the cost of living to record highs.The report, titled “Cadre Harmonisé”, recently released by the government and partners, estimates that about 32 million people across Nigeria's 26 states are food insecure during this year's June-August harvest season.
Globally and in Nigeria, several factors contribute to the child food poverty crisis, including food systems that fail to provide nutritious, safe and affordable options for children, families’ inability to purchase nutritious foods, and parents’ inability to develop and sustain good child-feeding habits.
Cheap, nutritious and unhealthy ultra-processed foods and sugary drinks are being aggressively marketed to parents and families and have become the new norm for feeding children. These unhealthy foods and drinks are consumed by an alarming proportion of young children living in food poverty, eliminating more nutritious and healthy foods from their daily diets.
According to the report, the number of children facing severe hunger is much higher in the poorest households (44%) than in the richest households (17%) in Nigeria. Despite the high number of children suffering from severe food poverty, the proportion of children suffering from severe food poverty in Nigeria is steadily decreasing from 45% in 2012 to 32% by 2022. However, more needs to be done to ensure that all children have access to and consume a diverse diet.
“Children living in severe food poverty are more likely to face life-threatening risks from food wastage, which impacts their survival and development,” said Christian Munduate, UNICEF Representative in Nigeria. “We urgently need to work together to address child food poverty and make nutritious options more available and affordable, especially for vulnerable families.”
To end child food poverty, UNICEF urgently calls on governments, development and humanitarian organizations, donor countries, civil society and the food and beverage industries to:
Transform food systems so that nutritious, diverse and healthy foods are the most available, affordable and preferred choices for caregivers to feed their young children. Leverage health systems to provide essential nutrition services to prevent and treat early childhood malnutrition, including supporting community health and nutrition workers to advise parents and families on child feeding and feeding practices. Revitalize social protection systems and address income poverty through social transfers (cash, food, vouchers) to address the food and nutrition needs of vulnerable children and their families.
To accelerate efforts to prevent, detect and treat severe child food poverty and malnutrition, the Child Nutrition Fund (CNF) was established in Nigeria last year with the support of multiple partners. The CNF is a UNICEF-led, multi-partner financing mechanism to incentivize domestic investments to end child malnutrition. Four states have contributed to the CNF so far, with nine more pledging to do so. UNICEF calls on the government, donors and financial partners to support the CNF and prioritize efforts to end severe child food poverty and malnutrition.
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Classification of child food poverty
When feeding children:
0–2 food groups/day, severe child food poverty.
Children who consume three to four different food groups per day are in moderate food poverty.
If a child consumes five or more food groups per day, they are not in child food poverty.
[NH1]@Anike Alli-Hakeem Are you saying that 4 in 5 children experience severe food poverty… (if so, please edit to clarify) Thank you.
