According to UNICEF, even before COVID-19, 47 million children were already wasted in 2019.
New Delhi:
6.7 million more children under the age of five around the world could be wasted this year due to the socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, UNICEF warned Tuesday.
According to UNICEF, in India there are still around 20 million children under the age of five who are wasted.
According to the Global Hunger Index 2019, wasting among children in India increased from 16.5% in 2008-2012 to 20.8% in 2014-2018.
Wasting is a life-threatening form of malnutrition that makes children too thin and weak, and puts them at greater risk of dying, poor growth, development and learning.
According to UNICEF, even before the COVID-19 pandemic, 47 million children were already wasted in 2019.
Another 6.7 million children under the age of five could be wasted and therefore become dangerously undernourished in 2020 due to the socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the agency said. United Nations for Children.
“Without urgent action, the global number of children suffering from wasting could reach nearly 54 million during the year. This would reduce global wasting to levels not seen in this millennium,” he said. he declares.
Citing a Lancet analysis, UNICEF said 80% of those children are believed to be from sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
“More than half are believed to be from South Asia alone,” he said.
According to the Lancet analysis, the prevalence of wasting in children under five could increase by 14.3% in low- and middle-income countries this year due to the socio-economic impact of COVID- 19.
“It has been seven months since the first cases of COVID-19 were reported and it is increasingly clear that the repercussions of the pandemic are harming children more than the disease itself,” said the Executive Director of UNICEF, Henrietta Fore.
“Household poverty and food insecurity rates have increased. Essential nutrition services and supply chains have been disrupted. Food prices have skyrocketed. As a result, the quality of people’s food. children has declined and malnutrition rates will increase, ”she said.
