Food Security for Children
Child Malnutrition Is a Silent Emergency
Malnutrition plays a role in the majority of the deaths of children under five. Malnourished children are too weak to fight off illness, and they often become physically and mentally stunted. Malnutrition keeps children trapped in the cycle of poverty. UNICEF is there to make sure that all children get the proper nutrition they need to grow into healthy and productive adults.
UNICEF supplies much-needed vitamins and nutrients to the world's most severely malnourished children. In areas like Sudan, where the environment is hostile and poverty extreme, our food security programs help distribute fortified foods like Plumpy'nut®, a high-protein, high-calorie peanut spread. We provide children with vitamin A to keep them from going blind, and we give folic acid to pregnant women.
By holding nutrition classes in local health centers, UNICEF supports mothers who are having difficulties properly nourishing their children. In hospitals and health centers all over the world, we help mothers breastfeed their newborn babies. 1.3 million babies still die every year because they are not properly breastfed.
We are also working to eliminate iodine deficiency, which can cause brain damage and physical impairment in children. With UNICEF's help, a campaign was started in Bolivia to iodize table salt. The number of schoolchildren in Bolivia with iodine deficiency disorders was reduced from 60 percent a decade ago to almost none today.
Every child has the right to proper nutrition. Proper nutrition is needed to fight off disease and develop a healthy mind and body. When children are well nourished, they can attend school and become a productive member of society. UNICEF is committed to preventing and treating malnutrition around the globe, helping every child get the nutrition needed for a healthy and promising future.
Related Nutrition Links
August 4, 2010
UNICEF responds to nutrition crisis in Niger
Niger remains in the grip of a severe food crisis. To ensure children have access to nutrients and prevent new cases of malnutrition, UNICEF has launched a feeding program to provide mothers with children between 6 months and 2 years of age a ration of oil, sugar and fortified flour. UNICEF is also supplying Plumpy'nut, a ready-to-eat therapeutic food to help treat severely malnourished children referred to health centers across the country.
July 31, 2010
Children in southern Madagascar still threatened by malnutrition
Seven districts in 3 regions of Madagascar are recovering from a nutrition crisis that affected the south of the country in 2009, mainly due to inadequate rainfall, a prolonged "lean season" and a very limited harvest. The crisis was compounded by limited access to safe water and health services in scattered villages.
July 27, 2010
NBA star Pau Gasol in Ethiopia: "Millions of kids need our help"
Los Angeles Lakers basketball star Pau Gasol visited UNICEF's nutrition, education and child protection programs in Ethiopia. Gasol learned about the Community Based Nutrition Program through which community members' work on measures to prevent and treat malnutrition—a major factor contributing to child mortality in Ethiopia. Gasol said his trip confirmed that millions of kids in the world live under very difficult conditions and need our help.
