PARIS (AP) – The economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic has slowed decades of progress against the most severe forms of malnutrition and is likely to kill 168,000 children before a global recovery occurs, according to a study released Monday by 30 international organizations.
The study of the Standing Together for Nutrition Consortium uses economic and nutritional data collected this year, as well as targeted telephone surveys. Saskia Osendarp, who led the study, estimates that an additional 11.9 million children – most in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa – will suffer from dwarfism and waste, the most severe forms of malnutrition.
Women who are pregnant now ‘will give birth to children who are already malnourished at birth, and these children have been disadvantaged from the very beginning, ”said Osendarp, executive director of the Micronutrient Forum. “A whole generation is at stake.”
The fight against malnutrition had been an unannounced global success until the coronavirus pandemic hit.
“It may seem like it’s a problem we’re always playing around, but the numbers went down before COVID,” said Lawrence Haddad, executive director of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition. “Ten years of progress eliminated in 9 to 10 months.”
Before the pandemic, the number of immature children worldwide declined every year, from 199.5 million in 2000 to 144 million in 2019. The number of children suffering from waste was 54 million in 2010 and fell to 47 million last year. According to the study, it is expected to rise back to 2010 levels.
The study was released at the start of a long-standing effort to raise money against malnutrition. About $ 3 billion was announced, although some of that includes previous pledges. Pakistan, which has one of the most widespread malnutrition in the world, has pledged to spend $ 2.2 billion by 2025.
The consortium includes the World Bank, World Food Program, UNICEF, and USAID, as well as private health foundations and universities. UNICEF pledged to spend $ 700 million annually on nutritional programs over the next five years, $ 224 million more than it has spent in the past five years.
Haddad said the next step is to hold governments accountable for their promises, especially those whose citizens suffer the most from malnutrition.
“A lot of hunger is about governance,” he said. He added that the pandemic makes the benefits of nutrition clear, as malnutrition leaves the body vulnerable to all kinds of diseases, including coronavirus. “Food is everyone’s best choice until the vaccine arrives.”
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