Global food crisis: one child at risk of death every minute due to malnutrition

Unicef says soaring food prices and drought caused by climate change are driving people into hunger

Workers carry sacks of wheat for distribution to more than 4,500 people who fled violence in Ethiopia's Tigray region. AFP

Ethiopia's government on March 24 declared 'an indefinite humanitarian truce effective immediately', saying it hoped to help hasten delivery of emergency aid to the Tigray region. AFP

Farmers harvest with combines in a wheat field near the village Tbilisskaya, Russia. AP

A worker collects Egyptian traditional 'baladi' flatbread at a bakery in El Sharabia, in Cairo, Egypt. AP

Fields of barley and wheat are seen outside Caledon near Cape Town, South Africa. Reuters

Farmers harvest with combines in a wheat field near the village of Tbilisskaya, Russia. AP

Women carry sacks of wheat during a food distribution programme organised by the Ethiopian government in the city of Alamata, Ethiopia. AFP

Barley and wheat fields outside Caledon near Cape Town, South Africa. Reuters

Wheat and barley fields in South Africa. Reuters

Grain fields in South Africa. Reuters

Grain fields in South Africa. Reuters

Fields of barley and wheat in Caledon, South Africa. Reuters

An Ethiopian woman sifts through distributed food supplies in a camp for the internally displaced in Adadle, in the Somali Region of Ethiopia. WFP via AP

A child looks after his family's animals in the Shabelle zone of the Somali region of Ethiopia. Unicef via AP

The global food crisis and climate change are contributing to eight million children under 5 sinking into severe malnutrition in 15 countries, including Sudan and Yemen, it has been revealed.

One child every minute becomes at risk of death from malnutrition and lack of food, a statement from the UN children's body Unicef said on Wednesday.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has sparked a global shortage of wheat. The two nations are two of the world’s largest exporters of the product — and Russia has created a blockade on Ukraine’s supply, leaving millions of tonnes sitting in silos.

“We are now seeing the tinderbox of conditions for extreme levels of child wasting begin to catch fire,” said Unicef executive director Catherine Russell. Severe wasting occurs when a child's weight becomes too low for their height.

The UN calls it “the most visible and lethal form of malnutrition” and says immediate action is needed, using therapeutic food — a combination of powdered milk, peanuts, butter, vegetable oil, sugar and vitamins that comes in 500-calorie sachets. But the group estimates that the cost of treating child wasting has already increased by about 16 per cent.

“Food aid is critical, but we cannot save starving children with bags of wheat," Ms Russell said. "We need to reach these children now with therapeutic treatment before it is too late.”

Climate change has also contributed to drought in some countries, depleting crop yield and forcing people into hunger and displacement.

Unicef said it was scaling up its response in the 15 most-affected countries: Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Haiti, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Yemen.

Yemen is in the seventh year of war since Houthi militias took over the capital Sanaa, prompting the government to call on Saudi Arabia and neighbouring countries to intervene.

More than two million children are acutely malnourished in Yemen, which has one of the highest rates of child malnutrition in the world.

A recent Red Cross survey found almost one third of families have gaps in their diets and hardly ever consume foods such as pulses, vegetables, fruit, dairy products or meat.

Sudan, too, has been experiencing political turmoil, shortage of funds and an influx of refugees from Ethiopia, where rebels are fighting against the government. In Sudan, about 2.5 million children are said to be malnourished.

Before the G7 summit taking place in Madrid next week, Unicef called for $1.2 billion to combat hunger in these nations.