Hunger crisis: it hurts, when family goes to bed hungry..

The essentials in brief
• The children's charity World Vision warns of the devastating 
   consequences of acute malnutrition.
• More than a million children die every year from malnutrition.
• According to the latest Unicef report, 45 million children are acutely malnourished.

“As a mother, it pains me when my family goes to bed hungry,” says 32-year-old Monica Nyanut Nyok, who lives in South Sudan with her family of six. 

NYANUT NYOK

War , violence , Covid-19 and cycles of drought and floods have resulted in Hunger crisis across the country.

According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), over 300,000 severely acutely malnourished children are currently struggling to survive in South Sudan.

An estimated 45 million children worldwide suffer from acute malnutrition.

Over a million children die every year because they don’t have enough to eat.

Hunger Crisis: Number of starving children increases

UNICEF estimates that the number of children affected will continue to increase, as poorer countries in particular are still suffering from the economic consequences of the corona pandemic. 

Ongoing armed conflicts and climate-related crises are also leading to increased food insecurity.

“Life has become more difficult and we often only eat once a day,” says Monica Nyanut Nyok.

Hunger crisis in Afghanistan

Without food aid, many people in Tonj Nord, where she currently lives, would die of hunger, she adds.

The international children’s aid organization World Vision is therefore distributing corn, vegetable oil, beans, salt and therapeutic food to the starving people in local centers. 

Not only in South Sudan, but worldwide in crisis areas or after natural disasters.

Hunger Crisis: Because of the war, wheat is scarce

The effects of the war in Ukraine are also exacerbating global hunger. 

According to UNICEF, food prices could rise another 16 percent.

In addition, the crisis is expected to result in a significant drop in wheat availability for many African countries and parts of the Middle East and Asia.

These regions get most of their wheat from Russia or Ukraine.

Hunger has long-term consequences

If children suffer from malnutrition over a longer period of time, this has far-reaching consequences not only for their health, but also for their future prospects:

You can’t go to school. Some children are so severely malnourished that they can hardly walk or sit. 

Without education, they lack professional perspectives.

Without a job, however, they have no livelihood and can therefore not afford adequate food even as adults – an almost hopeless cycle of poverty.

That’s why in countries like South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Bangladesh or Afghanistan , food is more than just a meal.

It means survival.