One in four children under five at risk of stunted growth globally: UN report

One in four young children are at risk of stunted development due to restricted diet, a UN report has found. Such restricted diet, the report added, also harms children's brain development and chances of survival.

The United Nations previously designated "hunger hotspots" – including Palestine, Haiti and Mali – where access to food is likely to deteriorate in the coming months due to raging state of war.

In its latest report, UN's children's agency UNICEF assessed diets of under-five children. It found that nearly 181 million children from almost 100 countries consuming, at most, only two food groups on a daily basis – typically milk with a starchy food such as rice, maize or wheat.

This meets the criteria for “severe food poverty” and means they are “children living on the brink”, according to Catherine Russell, UNICEF’s executive director.

"This can have an irreversible negative impact on their survival, growth and brain development," she said. "Children who consume just two food groups per day, for example rice and some milk, are up to 50 per cent more likely to experience severe forms of malnutrition."

Income inequality not sole reason for stunted growth: UN report

The report found that household income was not the only driver of diet quality. Children from wealthier households in some countries were also found to be living in severe food poverty due to a predominance of unhealthy and non-nutritious foods, and a lack of knowledge among parents about what a healthy diet should look like.

Less than 10 per cent of children in severe food poverty are fed fruit and vegetables, and less than 5 per cent meat, poultry and fish.

In west and central Africa, severe child food poverty fell from 42 per cent to 32 per cent over the past decade.

Also watch |Sudan civil war leaves 18 million starving nationwide, UN warns famine in large parts of country

"Armed violence and conflict remain the primary causes of acute food insecurity across numerous hunger hotspots," UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme said.

Chad, the eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Myanmar, Syria and Yemen were hotspots of “very high concern”, while Central African Republic, Lebanon, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Zambia, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Malawi, Somalia and Zimbabwe also remained on or joined the list.

(With inputs from agencies)