Hunger
Child Hunger
- More than 70 percent of the world's 146 million underweight children under age five years live in just 10 countries, with more than 50 per cent located in South Asia alone;
(Source: Progress for Children: A Report Card on Nutrition, UNICEF, 2006) - 10.9 million children under five die in developing countries each year. Malnutrition and hunger-related diseases cause 60 percent of the deaths;
(Source: The State of the World's Children, UNICEF, 2007) - The cost of undernutrition to national economic development is estimated at US$20-30 billion per annum; (Source: Progress for Children: A Report Card on Nutrition, UNICEF, 2006)
- One out of four children - roughly 146 million - in developing countries are underweight;
(Source: The State of the World's Children, UNICEF, 2007) - WFP now provides school meals to an average of 22 million children each year in 60 countries (Source: WFP School Feeding Unit)
Malnutrition
A child receives care at a therapeutic feeding cenre in Central African Republic, September 2009.
- It is estimated that 684,000 child deaths worldwide could be prevented by increasing access to vitamin A and zinc. (Source: WFP Annual Report 2007)
- Undernutrition contributes to 53 percent of the 9.7 million deaths of children under five each year in developing countries. (Source: Under five deaths by cause, UNICEF, 2006)
- Lack of Vitamin A kills a million infants a year.
(Source: Vitamin and Mineral Deficiency, A Global Progress Report, UNICEF) - Iron deficiency is the most prevalent form of malnutrition worldwide, affecting an estimated 2 billion people.6 Eradicating iron deficiency can improve national productivity levels by as much as 20 percent. (Source: World Health Organization, WHO Global Database on Anaemia)
- Iron deficiency is impairing the mental development of 40-60 percent children in developing countries. (Source: Vitamin and Mineral Deficiency, A Global Progress Report, p2, UNICEF)
- Vitamin A deficiency affects approximately 25 percent of the developing world’s pre-schoolers. It is associated with blindness, susceptibility to disease and higher mortality rates. It leads to the death of approximately 1-3 million children each year.
(Source: UN Standing Committee on Nutrition. World Nutrition Situation 5th report. 2005) - Iodine deficiency is the greatest single cause of mental retardation and brain damage. Worldwide, 1.9 billion people are at risk of iodine deficiency, which can easily be prevented by adding iodine to salt. (Source: UN Standing Committee on Nutrition. World Nutrition Situation 5th report. 2005)
Feeding children – investing in the future
WFP and Timor Education Ministry Provide Meals to Schoolchildren.
Every year, the World Food Programme feeds an average of 20 million children in some 60 countries around the world – at school. Ensuring that schoolchildren receive a nutritious meal at school is a win for everyone;
- A hungry child can’t concentrate on lessons – improving nutrition means that a child performs better in class.
- The main beneficiaries of School Meals are girls – the provision of food at school encourages families to educate ALL of their children, not just the boys.
- Children attain their full cognitive and physical potential – if children don’t receive the right nutrition in the developmental years, the damage can not be fixed in later life.
But don’t take our word for it:
“A few weeks ago, the Prime Minister of Cape Verde – Jose Maria Neves – visited WFP headquarters in Rome to mark the handover of their school meal programme. He told me that 35 years ago, people considered Cape Verde virtually hopeless. A small, dry, island country – it had barren lands, widespread hunger and a lack of investment in their greatest asset – their people. Yet today we see a country on track to meet every Millennium Development Goal, a country that is only the second to burst out of the Least Developed Nations staus index, and is running its own school meals programmes.” Josette Sheeran – Executive Director of World Food Programme, Sept. 2010
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