"Before It's Too Late"… A UN campaign to help 30 million children around the year
ARK News… The United Nations, on Thursday, launched a "before it's too late" appeal to raise funds to help 30 million severely malnourished children in countries affected by the food crisis.
The campaign seeks to prevent acute malnutrition in children, and detect and treat its cases, while UN officials called for confronting this crisis through "tested solutions", stressing that "the global food crisis is also a health crisis, as malnutrition leads to disease, and disease leads to malnutrition."
In a joint statement, 5 United Nations agencies confirmed that "more than 30 million children in the 15 most affected countries suffer from wasting - that is, acute malnutrition - and 8 million of these children suffer from severe wasting, which is the most fatal form of undernutrition."
The 15 affected countries are Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Haiti, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, and Yemen.
The skyrocketing food prices exacerbate food shortages and impede access to affordable basic foodstuffs. Conflicts, climate change, and the coronavirus pandemic have exacerbated the situation, according to those agencies.
For his part, Sho Donyu, Director-General of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), warned that "this situation is likely to deteriorate further in 2023."
UN agencies are calling for increased investments to support their efforts to meet the "unprecedented needs resulting from this growing crisis before it is too late".
Agencies seek to prevent, detect and treat severe acute malnutrition in children by working on the fronts of food, health, water, hygiene, and social protection systems.
Donyu stressed the need to ensure that healthy food is "available, accessible, and affordable".
The action plan will include children under the age of five, pregnant and lactating women, and mothers and caregivers of children under five.
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