UN says quarter of world’s children under 5 have severe food poverty

Kaltungo: The 9-month-old twins cried nonstop and tugged at their mother, seeking attention but also food. They had received little in the past 24 hours, and there were signs of deeper hunger in the heads too big for their tiny bodies.

“Not much milk comes out,” said their 38-year-old mother, Dorcas Simon, who struggles to breastfeed and has three other children. She laughed, as if to conceal the pain. “What will I give them when I don’t have food myself?”

Here in northern Nigeria, where conflict and climate change have long contributed to the problem, her twins are among 181 million children under 5 — or 27 per cent of the world’s youngest children — who live in severe food poverty, according to a new report Thursday by the UN’s children agency. The report, which focused on nearly 100 low- and middle-income countries, defines severe food poverty as consuming nothing in a day or, at best, two out of eight food groups the agency recognises.

Africa’s population of more than 1.3 billion people is one of the most affected mainly due to conflict, climate crises and rising food prices. The continent accounts for one-third of the global burden and 13 of the 20 most affected countries.

The percentage of children living in severe food poverty in West and Central Africa fell from 42 per cent to 32 per cent over the last decade, the reports said.