The coronavirus and restrictions that have coincided with the pandemic are pushing millions around the world to the brink of starvation.
Starvation related to the coronavirus is killing 10,000 children a month, of whom 50 percent are in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). An additional 550,000 children a month experience “attrition,” a term used by the UN to explain malnutrition that leads to slender limbs and distended stomachs.
The long-term consequences of massive malnutrition could lead to generations of people with physical and mental disabilities.
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“Without urgent action, the global number of children suffering from wasting could reach almost 54 million over the course of the year,” UNICEF said in a press release on Monday. “This would take global attrition to levels not seen in this millennium.”
Villages in rural areas face increasing challenges in gaining access to health services and supplies during the crisis. And food sales have declined, posing an additional challenge for farmers who cannot bring their crops to market.
“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 causing more harm to children than the disease itself,” said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore. “Household poverty and food insecurity rates have increased.”
Burkina Faso struggled with food insecurity before the pandemic, but now one in five children is chronically malnourished and 12 million of the country’s 20 million citizens do not have enough food.
“Essential nutrition services and supply chains have been disrupted. Food prices have skyrocketed, ”Fore said Monday. “As a result, the quality of children’s diets has declined and malnutrition rates will increase.”
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Childhood wasting is just the “tip of the iceberg,” the UN warned, and problems ranging from stunting to obesity are all causes of a poor diet.
A report by The Lancet released Monday estimates that increases in child malnutrition coupled with declining health services caused by the pandemic have projected an additional 128,605 deaths in children age five and younger over the next year.
“The food security effects of the COVID crisis will be reflected in many years to come,” said Dr. Francesco Branca, head of nutrition at the World Health Organization. “There is going to be a social effect.”
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UNICEF, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the World Food Program and the World Health Organization have warned that malnutrition intensified by the coronavirus is more severely affecting low- and middle-income countries.
The United Nations has called on countries around the world to provide $ 2.4 billion in aid to support the regions that struggle the most until the end of the year.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
