Unless urgent action is taken, UNICEF estimates that an additional 6.7 million children under 5 could suffer from wasting due to disruptions to essential — and often lifesaving — nutrition services.
“Every year malnutrition kills more children than AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis combined and those who do survive a severe bout of malnutrition in their early childhood are more likely to suffer from lifelong illness and impaired development,” said Blythe Thomas, initiative director at 1,000 Days, an initiative of FHI Solutions.
Proven and highly cost-effective solutions to prevent and treat malnutrition exist. Yet, these essential interventions often don’t reach the women and children who need it the most.
“Solutions to prevent, detect, and treat child malnutrition are well known, including action to ensure that children are born a healthy weight and that their health and nutrition are prioritized and protected during the critical first 1,000 days of life,” UNICEF’s Executive Director Henrietta Fore, wrote in an email to Devex.
To ensure these interventions reach the children most at risk of malnutrition, a group of international development experts is championing a new plan called Nourish the Future — a new, U.S.-led strategy looking to address these spikes in deadly malnutrition, while also building back better health systems in the long term.
Explore this visual story to learn more.
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