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	Humanitarian leaders call on global donors to fund nutrition crisis by IRC, World Vision, Action Against Hunger, agencies   The International Rescue Committee, together with CARE, 1,000 Days, HarvestPlus, Bread for the World, RESULTS Canada, KANCO, Concern Worldwide, Save the Children, World Vision, Action Against Hunger, and the Eleanor Crook Foundation endorse the following statement on World Food Day:   The Covid-19 pandemic, and its disruption to health and economic systems, is driving higher rates of a severe form of malnutrition. Urgent action is needed to save children’s lives and avert increased acute malnutrition and hunger during the pandemic and beyond. Global donors must increase their commitment to nutrition.   Year after year, over seven percent of the world’s children under age 5 – approximately 47 million children in 2019 - -- suffer from a dangerous form of malnutrition referred to as acute malnutrition, or wasting. This form of malnutrition can increase mortality risk up to 11x that of a healthy child.   Covid-19 is driving rates of malnutrition up. World hunger is projected to rise to an additional 132 million people this year as a result of the pandemic, and acute malnutrition itself is projected to rise 14 percent- bringing the number of children under age 5 with acute malnutrition to 54 million.   In four conflict-affected settings, the crisis is even more grave: Yemen, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Northeast Nigeria are experiencing crisis-level food insecurity and acute malnutrition. The United Nations has recently warned that the situation in these countries is likely to worsen unless immediate action is taken.   This stark increase in malnutrition, and the growing complexity of the hunger and nutrition landscape, threatens decades of progress to reduce child mortality.   Global progress on acute malnutrition has taken place slowly over the last twenty five years. Efforts to reach these children with life-saving treatment, called therapeutic foods, have been painfully slow, with only twenty percent of children needing treatment accessing it.   Therapeutic foods were first developed in 1996, and yet remain widely unavailable to children in need. Prevention efforts like vitamin A supplementation and breastfeeding promotion must also be scaled up.   However, innovations in recent years have brought new hope for malnourished children.   New research into different approaches for treatment- including delivery by community health workers, and a simpler, more efficient treatment protocol- offer the promise of reaching more children, and stretching every dollar further.   Recognizing the need for progress, last year United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres convened the leadership of United Nations agencies, and collectively they produced and agreed to an ambitious set of goals, released earlier this year as the Global Action Plan on Wasting.   This commitment to accelerate progress- including scaling treatment to reach 50 percent more children - is paired with a commitment from the World Health Organization to review its guidelines on wasting, potentially paving the way for wider use of new approaches and innovations.   However, much remains to be done to reach the ambitious targets committed to in the Global Action Plan. United Nations agencies and national governments alike must maintain and increase resources for health systems- including investing in critical areas which are important for closing equity gaps and ensuring that every child can access the treatment they need.   Severe funding gaps   Despite the depth and severity of the needs, global nutrition efforts remain deeply underfunded. UN agency heads have indicated that $2.4 billion in additional investment is needed to truly protect children by preventing and treating acute malnutrition.   This would support a full package of nutrition interventions - scaling up access to treatment, expanding prevention efforts like vitamin A supplementation, and promoting, protecting and supporting breastfeeding.   The most essential programming for nutrition response to the pandemic are outlined in the United Nations’ Global Humanitarian Response Plan. This plan has requested $247 million for essential nutrition response: to date, only three percent- approximately $7.7 million- has been funded.   Donors must commit to meeting the needs of these children   This World Food Day, we are calling attention to the deep, and increasing, need for nutrition funding. To avert increased child mortality due to increased acute malnutrition and hunger during the pandemic and beyond, global donors need to increase their commitment to nutrition.   Funding commitments to nutrition should be increased immediately through fulfillment of the UN’s Global Humanitarian Response Plan. And over the long-term, donors need to significantly increase long term funding commitments to nutrition: global donors should make strong commitments to address nutrition needs at next year’s Nutrition for Growth summit, including a doubling for nutrition-specific interventions like acute malnutrition treatment.   Covid-19 has stressed countries’ finances across the globe, but we cannot let millions more children suffer hunger, malnutrition, and even death, because of the pandemic.   http://www.rescue.org/press-release/humanitarian-leaders-call-global-donors-fund-nutrition-crisis-world-food-day http://www.savethechildren.net/news/malnutrition-could-kill-153-children-every-day-over-next-two-years-because-covid-19-warns-save http://www.wfp.org/news/nutrition-crisis-looms-more-39-billion-school-meals-missed-start-pandemic-unicef-and-wfp http://www.wfp.org/nutrition http://www.unicef.org/reports/fed-to-fail-child-nutrition   Feb. 2021   The COVID-19 pandemic risks reversing a decade of hard-won gains in global efforts to provide nutritious food to the world's most vulnerable children through a free daily meal in school, the United Nations World Food Programme said in a report released today.   One in two schoolchildren, or 388 million children worldwide, were receiving school meals when the pandemic struck, the highest number in history, according to the State of School Feeding Worldwide report. By April 2020, 199 countries had closed their schools and 370 million children were suddenly deprived of what for many was their only nutritious meal of the day.   For governments, the lockdowns shone a spotlight on the critical role played by school feeding in supporting the most vulnerable children and protecting their futures, the report's authors said, calling for global action to get coverage back to pre-pandemic levels and to expand further, to reach some 73 million vulnerable children who were missing out on meals even before the pandemic.   "School feeding is a game changer - for children, for communities and for countries," said WFP Executive Director David Beasley, "That one meal a day is often the reason hungry children go to school in the first place. It's also a powerful incentive to make sure they'll come back after lockdown ends. We need to get these programmes running again - even better than before - to stop COVID destroying the futures of millions of the world's most vulnerable children."   In 2021, WFP will build a coalition to support governments in the scale up of school meals programmes, working with development agencies, donors, the private sector and civil society organizations, the report said.   Between 2013 and 2020, the number of children receiving school meals grew by 9 percent globally and 36 percent in low-income countries, as governments expanded their programmes and made school feeding the world's most extensive social safety net.   Studies have shown that in the life of a child from a poor family, school meals can have major impact. They stave off hunger, support long-term health and help a child learn and thrive. This is especially true for girls: in places where there is a school meals programme, girls stay in school longer, child marriage rates go down and teen pregnancies decrease.   When they use locally produced food, school meals programmes can also boost a community's economy. They create demand for more diverse, nutritious food, and create stable markets, supporting local agriculture, and strengthening local food systems.   In a post-COVID-19 world, school feeding programmes are even more of a priority investment, the State of School Feeding Worldwide report said, because they help countries to build a healthy and educated population, while supporting national growth and promoting economic development.   "WFP is fully committed to working with our partners to ensure that no child, regardless of where they live, goes to school hungry -- or worse, doesn't go to school at all. After the turmoil of recent months, we must seize the opportunity to start building the better world we all want to see," Executive Director Beasley said in the foreword to the report.   http://www.wfp.org/news/pandemic-derails-historic-advances-childrens-access-school-meals http://news.un.org/en/story/2021/02/1085552 http://reliefweb.int/report/world/state-school-feeding-worldwide-2020 http://reliefweb.int/report/world/covid-19-response-situation-report-21-22-february-2021   Dec. 2020   As 2021 approaches, UNICEF is deeply concerned for the health and well-being of over 10 million children projected to suffer from acute malnutrition next year in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), northeast Nigeria, the Central Sahel, South Sudan and Yemen.   These are all countries or regions experiencing dire humanitarian crises while also grappling with intensifying food insecurity, a deadly pandemic and potential famine.   “COVID-19 has turned a nutrition crisis into an imminent catastrophe,” said UNICEF. “Families already struggling to feed their children and themselves are now on the brink of famine. We can’t let them be the forgotten victims of 2020.”   In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, an estimated 3.3 million children under five will suffer from acute malnutrition in 2021, including at least 1 million with severe acute malnutrition. These alarming figures are due to ongoing insecurity, the socioeconomic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, and limited access to essential services for vulnerable children and families.   In northeast Nigeria, more than 800,000 children are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition in 2021, including nearly 300,000 with severe acute malnutrition who are at imminent risk of death.   In the northwest of the country, the nutrition situation is even more dire. Kebbi State is experiencing a chronic malnutrition rate of 66 per cent, more than 20 per cent higher than Borno State in the northeast. In Sokoto State, also in Nigeria’s northwest, close to 18 per cent of children suffer from wasting and 6.5 per cent suffer from severe wasting.   In South Sudan, The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) update released earlier this month indicated a further deterioration of food security, with almost 7.3 million people – 60 per cent of the population – expected to be facing severe acute food insecurity in 2021. An estimated 1.4 million children are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition in 2021, the highest since 2013. Meanwhile, the number of children suffering from severe acute malnutrition is expected to increase from about 292,000 children this year to over 313,000 children in 2021.   The increase in household food insecurity and acute malnutrition among children is attributed to ongoing conflict and insecurity, and limited access to essential nutrition, health care and water, sanitation and hygiene services. Flooding in some areas in 2020 has exacerbated the already high level of acute malnutrition among children.   In the Central Sahel countries of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, intensifying conflict, displacement and climate shocks will leave an estimated 5.4 million people struggling to meet their daily food needs during the next lean season. Acute food insecurity has increased by 167 per cent in Burkina Faso, 34 per cent in Mali and 39 per cent in Niger, compared with the five-year average.   The number of children suffering from acute malnutrition could rise by 21 per cent. This would bring the total number of malnourished children in the three countries to a staggering 2.9 million, including 890,000 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition.   Across Yemen, over 2 million children under five years of age suffer from acute malnutrition, including nearly 358,000 with severe malnutrition – a number that is expected to rise. In 133 districts in southern Yemen, home to 1.4 million children under five, recent analysis reveals a near 10 per cent increase in children with acute malnutrition between January and October 2020. This includes a more than 15 per cent increase – nearly 100,000 children – in cases of severe acute malnutrition. A similar analysis is being finalized for northern Yemen and alarming results are expected there as well.   In all these countries and beyond, UNICEF is urging humanitarian actors on the ground and the international community to urgently expand access to and support for nutrition, health and water and sanitation services for children and families.   UNICEF has appealed for more than US$1 billion to support its lifesaving nutrition programmes for children in countries affected by humanitarian crises over 2021.   http://www.unicef.org/reports/humanitarian-action-children-2021-overview   Nov. 2020   Malnutrition surges among young children in Yemen. (FAO UNICEF WFP)   Acute malnutrition rates among children under five are the highest ever recorded in parts of Yemen, with more than half a million cases in southern districts, according to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) Acute Malnutrition analysis released today by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the World Food Programme (WFP) and partners.   The analysis – which is for 133 districts in southern parts of Yemen only, home to 1.4 million children under five – reveals a near 10 percent increase in cases of acute malnutrition in 2020. The greatest increase is in cases of young children suffering from severe acute malnutrition (SAM) with a 15.5 percent rise during 2020. This leaves at least 98,000 children under five at high risk of dying without urgent treatment for severe acute malnutrition.   A dangerous combination of factors, driven by conflict and economic decline, compound the situation for Yemen’s youngest children. In the worst hit areas around one in five children are acutely malnourished. In Hodeidah’s lowlands, more than one in four or 27% of children are acutely malnourished.   At least a quarter of a million pregnant or breastfeeding women are also in need of treatment for malnutrition. UN experts warn the actual number is likely higher as the drivers of malnutrition in Yemen have worsened in 2020.   Yemen has long battled with some of the highest malnutrition rates in the world. Until now, humanitarian interventions to treat and prevent malnutrition, as well as provide emergency food assistance, have prevented an even more severe deterioration. But in 2020, these hard-won gains are being lost.   Escalating conflict and economic decline, plus the overwhelming impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, has pushed an already exhausted population to the brink. Add to this, many aid projects including emergency food assistance and WASH services have been disrupted by funding shortfalls. Malnutrition treatment programmes are also at risk if additional funds are not received soon.   These factors come on top of drivers that have historically made Yemen one of the hardest places to be a child or mother: insufficient and poor-quality diet; high prevalence of communicable diseases; elevated levels of food insecurity, limited access to nutrition and health services, poor sanitation and hygiene; and inability of many children to access to important vaccines, like measles and polio.   “We’ve been warning since July that Yemen is on the brink of a catastrophic food security crisis. If the war doesn’t end now, we are nearing an irreversible situation and risk losing an entire generation of Yemen’s young children,” said Ms. Lise Grande, the Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen. “The data we are releasing today confirms that acute malnutrition among children is hitting the highest levels we have seen since the war started.”   http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/millions-childrens-lives-high-risk-yemen-inches-towards-famine http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/malnutrition-surges-among-young-children-yemen-conditions-worsen http://www.ipcinfo.org/ipc-country-analysis/details-map/en/c/1152903/ http://www.ipcinfo.org/ipc-country-analysis/ http://www.rescue.org/press-release/humanitarian-leaders-call-global-donors-fund-nutrition-crisis-world-food-day http://www.actionagainsthunger.org/story/humanitarian-leaders-call-global-donors-fund-nutrition-crisis-world-food-day http://reliefweb.int/report/democratic-republic-congo/covid-19-increases-global-food-insecurity-less-children-are http://reliefweb.int/report/burkina-faso/call-action-wcar-time-act-now-child-nutrition-sahel-unicef-launches-nutrition http://www.icrc.org/en/document/nigeria-sharp-increase-food-prices-caused-covid-19-raises-fear-hunger Visit the related web page
	Abuse and harassment driving girls off Facebook, Instagram and Twitter by Anne-Birgitte Albrectsen Plan International   Largest ever global survey on online violence shows that one in five girls (19%) have left or significantly reduced use of a social media platform after being harassed, while another one in ten (12%) have changed the way they express themselves. Girls who use social media are routinely subjected to explicit messages   Girls and young women worldwide are demanding urgent action from social media companies after a landmark survey has revealed more than half (58%) have been harassed or abused online.   Attacks are most common on Facebook, where 39% say they have suffered harassment, but occur on every platform included in the global study including Instagram (23%), WhatsApp (14%), Snapchat (10%), Twitter (9%) and TikTok (6%).   Our latest research is based on a survey of 14,000 girls aged 15-25 in 22 countries, including Brazil, Benin, the USA and India, and a series of in-depth interviews.   The largest study of its kind, it found girls who use social media in high and low-income countries alike are routinely subjected to explicit messages, pornographic photos, cyberstalking and other distressing forms of abuse, and reporting tools are ineffective in stopping it.   Online violence has led to nearly one in five (19%) of those who have been harassed stopping or significantly reducing their use of the platform on which it happened, while another one in ten (12%) have changed the way they express themselves.   Abuse also damages girls’ lives offline, with one in five (22%) of those surveyed saying they or a friend have been left fearing for their physical safety, while 44% say social media companies need to do more to protect them.   Anne-Birgitte Albrectsen, CEO of Plan International, said: “Although this research was gathered in conversation with more than 14,000 girls across multiple continents, they share similar experiences of harassment and discrimination.   “These attacks may not be physical, but they are often threatening, relentless, and limit girls’ freedom of expression. Driving girls out of online spaces is hugely disempowering in an increasingly digital world, and damages their ability to be seen, heard and become leaders.”   “Disappointingly, they are being left to deal with online violence on their own, with profound consequences for their confidence and wellbeing. With COVID-19 driving more of our lives online and with internet access around the world improving, it is time for digital platforms to step up and protect their users.”   The most common type of attack is abusive and insulting language, reported by 59% of girls who have been harassed, followed by purposeful embarrassment (41%), body shaming and threats of sexual violence (both 39%).   More than a third (37%) of girls who are from an ethnic minority and have suffered abuse say they are targeted because of their race or ethnicity, while more than half (56%) of those who identify as LGBTIQ+ say they are harassed because of their gender identity or sexual orientation.   The report – titled Free to be online? Girls’ and young women’s experiences of online harassment – found that social media is a significant part of young people’s lives and is widely used for activism, entertainment, to learn and to keep in touch with friends and family.   Three-quarters (74%) of those surveyed say they post frequently or very frequently, while interviews suggest that COVID-19 has made being online even more important.   In the words of one young woman, 18, from Nepal: “Social media is very important these days, and I often keep using for three to four hours a day.”   However, this leaves girls vulnerable to new forms of abuse, with 50% saying online harassment is more common than street harassment.   Harassment takes profound toll on girls' wellbeing   Describing her experience of using social media as a young girl, one woman from Sudan, now 20, said: “I used to get a lot of messages from boys asking me to send nudes or blackmailing me about a picture that I posted that they're going share it or edit it in a bad way and share it with everyone if I don't do this or that.   “Or just generally talking, like saying bad words to me. At that young age it was, honestly, horrible. So, it was the worst time in my life, using social media. Between the age of 9 and 14.”   Although one in three (35%) have reported perpetrators, abuse persists because they can make new accounts and significant numbers of people need to report harmful content before action is taken.   Another girl from Ecuador, 17, who was interviewed for the study said: “I would block but he would create more profiles and keep sending me pictures of me.”   Harassment takes a profound toll on girls’ confidence and wellbeing, with 39% of those surveyed saying it lowers self-esteem, 38% saying it creates mental and emotional stress and 18% saying it can cause problems at school.   Girls are calling for action to end online abuse   The research was carried out as part of Girls Get Equal, Plan International’s global campaign for a world where girls and young women have the power to be leaders and shape the world around them.   As part of the campaign, girls around the world have written an open letter to Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter calling on them to create stronger and more effective ways to report abuse and harassment.   Plan International is also asking governments worldwide to implement specific laws to deal with online gender-based violence and ensure girls who suffer it have access to justice.   Ms Albrectsen says: “Social media companies have the power to make change. They must do more to tackle harmful behaviour and ensure that their platforms are safe environments that allow girls, young women, LGBTQ+ young people and other groups that are vulnerable to harassment to fully express themselves and play their rightful role in shaping the modern world.”   http://plan-international.org/news/2020-10-05-abuse-and-harassment-driving-girls-facebook-instagram-and-twitter Visit the related web page
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