Food Crises
Tens of millions of children are living in severe food insecurity or severe food poverty, their diets limited and lacking in the nutrients they need during early childhood and beyond for healthy growth and development. How UNICEF responds to food crises and fights child malnutrition worldwide.
Over 295 million people across 53 countries face high levels of acute food insecurity. Millions more face severe food poverty.
In Nigeria, Sudan, Myanmar and many other countries, food crises are driven by conflict. Economic shocks (inflation and currency devaluation) and weather extremes (droughts and floods) are also major contributors.
For children, food crises mean limited diets lacking the nutrition required for healthy growth and development. The result: malnutrition.
Tens of millions of children under age 5 suffer from acute malnutrition across more than two dozen countries and territories. Nutrition crises in Gaza, Mali and Yemen are among the most severe in the world.
Hunger shocks are likely to persist amid significant reductions in humanitarian funding.
Food crises and nutrition crises often overlap
A 2025 report by the Global Network Against Food Crises — of which UNICEF is a part — estimated that there were 37.7 million children with acute malnutrition in 26 countries and territories in 2024. Of those, over 10 million suffer from severe acute malnutrition (SAM), which can be fatal if left untreated.
UNICEF procures 75 to 80 percent of the world's supply of ready-to-use therapeutic food, a treatment for children with SAM.
Learn how UNICEF fights child hunger
Undernutrition is linked to nearly half of all deaths of children under age 5
Some 148 million children in the world — about 1 in 5 — are chronically malnourished to some degree. When not addressed, malnutrition puts children at greater risk of dying from common infections, increases the frequency and severity of such infections and delays recovery. When a child suffers from malnutrition, the damage can be irreversible — robbing them of the opportunity to reach their full mental and physical potential.
Food crises and threat of famine can also cause displacement, which disrupts lives and interrupts childhoods. Millions of people have been displaced by food crises in recent years.
How UNICEF fights malnutrition worldwide
UNICEF works with partners to deliver humanitarian assistance to those impacted by food crises through a range of interventions, including:
- screening and treating children for malnutrition
- providing safe water, sanitation and hygiene services to communities where these basic resources are in short supply
- providing cash assistance to families along with nutrition counseling
UNICEF leads the global nutrition emergency preparedness and response efforts, coordinating with partners to reach the most vulnerable children and families in the hardest-to-reach areas. UNICEF also works with governments to strengthen local health and nutrition systems to reduce risks of malnutrition before, during and after a crisis.
UNICEF’s goal is to protect and promote diets, services and practices for the early prevention, detection and treatment of child wasting — an extreme form of malnutrition. Learn more about UNICEF's nutrition programs.
Help UNICEF save children’s lives. A donation of $100 can provide a two-month supply of ready-to-use therapeutic food — enough to bring a severely malnourished child back to health.
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