A new global UNICEF report reveals that 64 million children under five in Africa—approximately 1 in 3—are suffering from severe child food poverty, making them up to 50% more likely to experience wasting, a life-threatening form of malnutrition.
The report, Child Food Poverty: Nutrition Deprivation in Early Childhood, provides a comprehensive analysis of dietary deprivation among young children in nearly 100 countries, highlighting the critical challenges they face in accessing nutritious and diverse diets essential for optimal growth and development.
Africa is particularly hard-hit, with one-third of the 181 million children living in severe food poverty globally residing in the region. Countries like the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Niger, Nigeria, Somalia, South Africa, Uganda, and Tanzania bear the highest burden.
Severe child food poverty is defined as children consuming, at most, two of eight essential food groups per day. Alarmingly, four out of five children in this category are fed only breast milk/milk and/or a starchy staple like rice or maize, with less than 10% receiving fruits and vegetables and under 5% consuming nutrient-rich foods such as eggs, fish, or meat.
UNICEF Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa, Etleva Kadilli, emphasized the devastating impact of conflict and climate crises on families’ ability to feed their children. “These factors disrupt food production, making nutritious foods less available and more expensive, leaving vulnerable households unable to adequately feed their children,” Kadilli stated.
The report also highlights how the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with growing inequities, conflicts, and the climate crisis, have driven food prices and the cost of living to unprecedented levels. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Somalia, over 80% of parents reported that their child had gone an entire day without eating due to lack of resources.
Somalia, facing conflict, drought, and floods, has 63% of its children living in severe food poverty. In Guinea Bissau, 53% of children face severe food poverty, with disparities between rich and poor households widening significantly in the last decade.
The report identifies several drivers of this crisis, including ineffective food systems, unaffordable nutritious foods, and the aggressive marketing of unhealthy, ultra-processed foods that displace healthier options in children’s diets.
Despite these challenges, there have been successes. Burkina Faso, for instance, has halved the prevalence of severe child food poverty from 67% in 2010 to 32% in 2021, and Rwanda has reduced it from 20% in 2010 to 12% in 2020.
UNICEF is calling on governments, organizations, donors, and the food industry to take urgent action to end child food poverty. Gilles Fagninou, UNICEF Regional Director for West and Central Africa, emphasized the need to transform food systems to make nutritious, diverse, and healthy foods more accessible and affordable.
To combat child food poverty and malnutrition, UNICEF launched the Child Nutrition Fund (CNF) last year, with support from 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 designed to incentivize domestic investments aimed at ending child malnutrition and calls for continued support from governments, donors, and financial partners to implement sustainable solutions.