2 in 3 children in Somalia live in severe food poverty due to inequity, conflict, and climate crises – UNICEF

MOGADISHU, 13 August 2024 – Around 63 per cent of children in Somalia, or two in three, have experienced severe food poverty in their early childhood, making them up to 50 per cent more likely to experience wasting, a life-threatening form of malnutrition, a report released by UNICEF reveals.

The report, Child Food Poverty: Nutrition Deprivation in Early Childhood, analyses the impacts and causes of dietary deprivation among the world’s youngest people in nearly 100 countries and ranks Somalia among 20 countries, which accounts for two-thirds of the total number of children living in severe food poverty. The report warns that millions of children under the age of five are unable to access and consume a nutritious and diverse diet to sustain optimal growth and development in early childhood and beyond.

Children who consume, at most, two of eight defined food groups are considered to be in severe child food poverty. Four out of five children in this situation are fed only breastmilk, milk, or a starchy staple, such as rice, maize, or wheat. Less than 10 per cent of these children are fed fruits and vegetables. And less than 5 per cent are fed nutrient-dense foods such as eggs, fish, poultry, or meat. In Somalia, among children aged 6-23 months, only 1 in 5 are fed eggs, fish, poultry, or meat, and 2 in 3 consume zero vegetables or fruits.

“Child food poverty is a serious issue in Somalia that has been compounded by the cycle of climate-induced crises and conflicts,” says UNICEF Representative Wafaa Saeed. “It makes children vulnerable to both chronic as well as severe malnutrition. Together with the government and other partners, we need to do more to improve the food system for young children and enable families to have access to a wide variety of locally available foods, especially fish, meat, fruits, and vegetables, which are currently limited in their diets.”

The report warns that while countries are still recovering from the socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the effects of growing inequities, conflicts, and the climate crisis have pushed food prices and the cost of living to record high levels.

Of the 181 million children living in severe food poverty globally, 65 per cent reside in just 20 countries, including Somalia, where over 80 per cent of caregivers reported that their child had been unable to eat for an entire day. Around 64 million affected children are in South Asia, and 59 million are in Sub-Saharan Africa. Somalia tops the list in Eastern and Southern Africa.

Globally, the report finds nearly half (46 per cent) of all cases of severe child food poverty are among poor households where income poverty is likely to be a major driver, while 54 per cent – or 97 million children – live in relatively wealthier households, among whom poor food environments and feeding practices are the main drivers of food poverty in early childhood.

Several factors are fueling the child food poverty crisis, including food systems that fail to provide children with nutritious, safe, and accessible options, families’ inability to afford nutritious foods, and parents’ inability to adopt and sustain positive child-feeding practices. In many contexts, cheap, nutrient-poor, and unhealthy ultra-processed foods and sugar-sweetened beverages are aggressively marketed to parents and families and are the new normal for feeding children. These unhealthy foods and beverages are consumed by an alarming proportion of young children experiencing food poverty, displacing more nutritious and healthier foods from their daily diets.

To end child food poverty, UNICEF calls on governments, development and humanitarian organizations, donors, civil society and the food and beverage industry to urgently:

• Transform food systems so that nutritious, diverse, and healthy foods are the most accessible, affordable, and desirable option for caregivers to feed young children.
• Leverage health systems to deliver essential nutrition services to prevent and treat malnutrition in early childhood, including support for community health and nutrition workers to counsel parents and families on child feeding and care practices.
• Activate social protection systems to address income poverty through social transfers (cash, food, and vouchers), in ways that are responsive to the food and nutrition needs of vulnerable children and their families.
  To accelerate actions to prevent, detect and treat severe child food poverty and malnutrition, the Child Nutrition Fund (CNF) was launched last year at the global food security summit in London, co-hosted by the President of Somalia, His Excellency Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. Led by UNICEF, with the support of the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), the CNF is a multi-partner financing mechanism that incentivizes domestic investments to end child malnutrition. UNICEF urges governments, donors and financial partners to support the CNF and prioritise sustainable policies and practices to end severe child food poverty and malnutrition.