Tolulope Fasuan Nigeria and 19 other countries account for 45 per cent of children facing food poverty in the world, a United Nations Children’s Fund flagship child nutrition report has shown. Based on the report, the 19 other countries listed include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, the Niger, Pakistan, the Philippines, Somalia, South Africa, Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania and Yemen. The report showed that globally, one in four children (27 per cent) are living in severe child food poverty in early childhood, amounting to 181 million children under five years of age.
UNICEF defined child food poverty as children’s inability to access and consume a nutritious and diverse diet in early childhood. The report examined the status, trends, inequities, and drivers of child food poverty in early childhood. The UN body said 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.
UNICEF noted that severe child food poverty affects all regions of the world, but not equally. It, however, noted that globally, progress toward ending severe child food poverty is slow, but some regions and countries are proving that progress is.
