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	Global recession and austerity hit children in high-income countries by Unicef Office of Research   Apr. 2017   Global recession and austerity hit children in high-income countries.   Nearly ten years after the first financial shock waves rippled through the world economy, generating a global recession, the track record of high income countries in protecting children from its worst effects, is mixed.   A new book, Children of Austerity: The impact of the Great Recession on child poverty in rich countries, published by the UNICEF Office of Research - Innocenti, in collaboration with sixteen international research institutions, provides a detailed account of the effects of the crisis, and government policy responses to it, on children in high income countries.   'Across the rich countries of the world large numbers of children were severely affected by the global economic crisis, with child poverty increasing in many countries', said UNICEF Innocenti's Yekaterina Chzhen.   'This is the first international study of the effects of the crisis and government responses, with explicit emphasis on children in rich countries'.   The country case studies focus on Belgium, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States.   In-depth analysis of the wide-ranging experiences provides valuable lessons about protecting children during economic crises, since the selected countries cover the whole spectrum in terms of their circumstances prior to the crisis, the severity of the crisis impact within their borders, and their national policy responses.   The majority of the 41 industrialized countries experienced peak-to-trough falls in GDP of between 2 and 9 per cent between 2006-8 and 2009-14. Eight countries, including Ireland, Italy, and Greece, saw double digit reductions.   While the study uses a range of poverty measures, the headline results refer to 'anchored child poverty', the share of children under 18 living in households with incomes after taxes and transfers below 60 per cent of the national median in the pre-crisis years, adjusted for inflation.   Key findings   The recent economic crisis and subsequent austerity hit children particularly hard - Between 2008 and 2014, child poverty increased in two-thirds of European countries; with increases of over 15 percentage points in Cyprus, Iceland and Greece and of 7-9 percentage points in Hungary, Italy, Ireland and Spain.   Spending on families and children in Europe fell when it was most needed. Not a single European country increased the share of spending on family benefits and two-thirds reduced per capita spending.   Cuts in spending on health, education and other public services hurt families with children. Income poverty statistics mask other forms of hardship.   The rates of unmet medical need rose significantly among the poorest households in Greece and significant cuts in health and education spending affected children in Spain.   The crisis and austerity highlighted stark regional disparities 'Anchored child poverty' increased to 20 per cent in northern Italy and to 50 per cent in southern Italy between 2008 and 2014; in the UK, Northern Ireland's child poverty rate increased from 23 per cent to 27 per cent.   Child poverty in the United States did not increase as much as expected - while unemployment nearly doubled, however there was a increase in 'anchored child poverty' in the US. An expansion in the coverage of the social safety net during the crisis moderated its impact on families with children.   'Protecting family income during downturns is central to addressing child poverty, but not adequate on its own. Children are also severely affected when there are cuts in spending on schools and health facilities, and when parents cannot access essential services such as childcare', said Chzhen.   'The book's message is that to protect children in good times and in bad, governments should prioritize a combination of universal income support that is social insurance-based and means-tested, with health and education spending, directed towards those in greatest need'.   According to Children of Austerity, experience before and during the worst period of the crisis shows how politically challenging maintaining a well-directed, adequately resourced social support structure for families with children, can be.   While not a panacea, adequate child-focused payments are a potentially powerful element in the overall social safety net for both working and non-working families. Such payments must be part of a coherent anti-poverty strategy that includes not only social protection but also employment, education and childcare policies.   http://www.unicef-irc.org/article/1591-global-recession-and-austerity-hit-children-in-high-income-countries.html http://www.unicef-irc.org/research/social-protection-cash-transfers/   Food for thought on measuring child food insecurity, by Audrey Pereira.   Food is a basic necessity of life. However these are the grim statistics: one in four children are stunted, approximately half of all deaths among children under 5 are attributable to malnutrition, and in the developing world alone, 66 million children of primary school age go to school hungry. These numbers are alarming and unacceptably high. And yet, they may actually underestimate the true extent of food insecurity.   Food insecurity goes beyond the problem of not having enough food to eat. It includes aspects of food quality and nutritional and non-nutritional consequences of inadequate access to food.   Ironically, without data on how many children are food insecure, or where they live, we hope to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 2.1, which calls for an end to hunger by 2030.   Understanding the extent of child food insecurity requires a range of sources of data on household food practices.   Children are well aware of food insecurity in terms of decreased quality and quantity of food. They recognize parental hardships, such as stress about food, and actively look for methods to alleviate it.   Most importantly, children recognize how important food is for well-being, and grasp the complex social, economic and political factors surrounding it.   Although it is not feasible to ask very young children about their experiences of food insecurity, some research has explored self-reports of food insecurity among older children, or even investigated food consumption to understand age and gender dynamics around food. At the recent Seventh International Conference on Agricultural Statistics held at FAO in October 2016, among the research presented were analyses that explored child and adolescent food insecurity.   The UNICEF Office of Research Innocenti presented preliminary research using Gallup World Poll data, which measures food insecurity as part of the Voices of the Hungry project.   The analysis uses the Food Insecurity Experience Scale to develop proxy measures for global child food insecurity, and suggests that although the prevalence of food insecurity among households with children under 15 is the highest in Sub-Saharan Africa, the majority of the burden lies in South Asia.   Also presented at the conference was evidence from the Young Lives study in India, which showed significant differences in intra-household food allocation by gender during mid-adolescence.   The longitudinal study showed a pro-boy gap at age 15 in the number of food groups consumed, and that boys ate more nutritious foods than girls. Previous research in Ethiopia found that adolescent girls were more likely to report being food insecure than adolescent boys.   http://blogs.unicef.org/evidence-for-action/food-thought-measuring-child-food-insecurity/ Visit the related web page
	Unless the world dramatically changes course, malnutrition is here to stay by Save the Children, WHO, Unicef, agencies   There are 159 million children who are stunted today. (Save the Children)   The world has made progress in tackling malnutrition. But that progress has been far too slow. Our research shows that the world is way off eradicating malnutrition. On current trends there will still be millions of malnourished children in the world 100 years from now.   What's more, progress has been alarmingly unequal. While many children have benefited, particular groups of children are missing out on the nutrients that are so vital to their life chances.   Unequal Portions presents the findings of new research into what makes some children more vulnerable to malnutrition than others. It analyses data from a range of sources to show how a deadly combination of poverty and discrimination is robbing certain groups of children - girls, children from ethnic minorities, those in disadvantaged regions of their country, disabled children, and children affected by war of the healthy, balanced diet they need to survive and thrive.   Drawing on new findings and analysis, this report identifies a series of measures to ensure no child is left behind. And it calls on world leaders to address exclusion and ensure every last child gets the nutrition they need.   In September last year the United Nations adopted global development goals to end hunger and poverty by 2030. On current trends, by 2030 there will be 129 million children under five whose growth is stunted by lack of food, according to research published by Save the Children ahead of an international summit on nutrition in Brazil.   Groups most likely to miss out on progress in curbing hunger include children from ethnic minorities, those in disadvantaged regions of their country, disabled children, and children affected by war, Save the Children said.   "The world has pledged to eliminate all forms of malnutrition by 2030. But if we carry on as we are, that simply won't happen. Unless the world dramatically changes course, malnutrition is here to stay," it said.   There are some 159 million children who are stunted today, down from 255 million in 1990, according to U.N. agencies.   Poor nutrition - where people do not have enough of the right kinds of food - kills more children every year than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined, according to the World Food Programme (WFP).   It causes nearly half of all child deaths - 3.1 million a year. Those who survive early childhood are likely to have stunted growth, and not reach their full mental and physical potential, WFP says.   Of the 115 countries studied by Save the Children, 100 have reduced stunting in children since 2000. Countries which have made the significant progress include Afghanistan, Vietnam, Nepal, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Bolivia and Ghana. However, progress within many countries has varied depending on ethnicity.   Out of 48 countries with available data on ethnicity, children in the most disadvantaged ethnic groups had on average 2.8 times higher rates of stunting and six times higher rates of wasting than their more advantaged peers, the report said.   In some countries the disparity was even greater. In Nigeria, 52 percent of Hausa children were stunted, compared with 14 percent of Igbo children.   Children in rural areas were more likely to be stunted than those in towns and cities, as were children living in marginalised regions with fewer basic services.   Another major challenge to progress in ending hunger is the huge number of children being forced to flee violence. They make up more than half of the world's 59.5 million displaced people.   "All those children on the move have to be protected. These situations are also endangering the goal of nutrition," Roberto Cabrera, Save the Children's country director for Guatemala, said.   Another sign of malnourishment is obesity. The number of overweight children under five years old has risen to 41 million today - 10 million more than in 1990. "This is a worrying trend, which will lead to greater mortality," the report states.   Countries should incorporate international obligations on the right to food and development into national laws, and address inequalities based on gender, ethnicity, poverty, disability or where a child lives, Save the Children said.   Key stunting facts:   Good nutrition is essential for the development of a healthy immune system and is the key to unlocking every child's physical and cognitive potential. The failure to provide children with adequate nutrition, especially in the first 1,000 days after conception, throws away human potential that cannot be recovered.   Children who are poorly nourished are more likely to fall ill, and can die as a result. Nearly half of all deaths in children under five are attributable to under-nutrition.   Malnutrition costs countries billions of dollars every year in lost productivity and holds back economic development, which affects everyone.   The countries with the highest numbers of malnourished children include India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Indonesia and China.   The poorest 20% of children are more than twice (2.26 times) as likely to be stunted as the richest (in our sample of 56 countries)   Overall, inequalities in malnutrition are widening between different regions within countries, between the richest and the poorest, and between rural and urban areas. Discrimination and exclusion help to create these inequalities.   http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/resources/online-library/unequal-portions   The 2017 Joint Child Malnutrition Estimates, by Unicef, WHO, SUN Network.   In May 2017, the inter-agency team (UNICEF-WHO-World Bank) released the new joint global estimates for child stunting, malnutrition, wasting and severe wasting.   Good nutrition allows children to grow, develop, learn, play, participate and contribute, while malnutrition robs children of their futures and leaves young lives hanging in the balance.   Stunting is the devastating result of poor nutrition in early childhood. Children suffering from stunting may never grow to their full height and their brains may never develop to their full cognitive potential. Globally, approximately 155 million children under 5 suffer from stunting.   These children begin their lives at a marked disadvantage: they face learning difficultie in school, earn less as adults, and face barriers to participation in their communities.   Wasting in children is the life-threatening result of hunger and/or disease. Children suffering from wasting have weakened immunity, are susceptible to long term developmental delays, and face an increased risk of death they require urgent treatment and care to survive. In 2016, nearly 52 million children under 5 were wasted and 17 million were severely wasted.   The estimates from 1990 to 2017 reveal that we are still far from a world without malnutrition.   The new joint estimates cover indicators of stunting, wasting, severe wasting and overweight among children under 5, and reveal insufficient progress to reach the World Health Assembly targets set for 2025 and the Sustainable Development Goals set for 2030.   Improving children's nutrition requires effective and sustained multi-sectoral nutrition programming over the long term. Regular data collection is critical to monitor and analyse country, regional and global progress going forward.   * Key 2017 findings: http://bit.ly/2sX1Qph   Undernutrition is a strong risk factor for children's cognitive development, by Arnaud Sologny, Melissa Kaplan. (Global Nutrition Report, Action Against Hunger)   Undernutrition is often addressed solely as a health issue, but its broader impact on child development, hence on a country's economic development, is frequently underestimated.   As kids in the northern hemishpere go back to school this week, did you know that, compared to a healthy child, a child suffering from undernutrition can lose up to fifteen IQ points, is 12% less likely to be able to write a simple sentence at age 8 or will achieve up to 3.6 years less in school education?   In order to reach their full potential, nations need to empower their children to discover creative ways to drive future growth and development.   However, today, more than 200 million children still suffer from undernutrition worldwide (155 million stunted, 52 million wasted); this greatly jeopardizes their ability to get an education and participate in national development.   Undernutrition is a strong risk factor for children's cognitive development, opening up inequalities that will last a lifetime and often grow as they grow older.   Among other things, maternal undernutrition affects fetal growth and brain development through lack of Vitamin D; iron deficiency anemia before three years of age results in delayed brain maturation.   Overall, studies have shown that stunting among young children predicts poorer cognitive and educational outcomes.   Undernutrition currently leaves nearly four in ten children in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia with under-developed brains and bodies.   Damage caused by undernutrition in the first 1000 days of a child's life are irreversible.   Besides the impact on educational performances, nutritional deficiencies during early childhood development also have an impact on school attendance throughout children's schooling.   In addition to suffering from fatigue and inability to concentrate, stunted children are physically weaker, subject to repeated illness and more likely to miss out on opportunities to acquire lifelong skills.   Undernutrition also undermines children's self-esteem and career aspirations. Various studies provide evidence of the impact of obstructed early childhood development on later mental health, with higher levels of depression and anxiety among stunted and formerly wasted children.   Moreover, a child's nutritional status can influence the experiences and stimulation children receive: for instance, parents can treat a stunted child differently because he or she is small.   Undernourished children thus not only face diminished bodily and cognitive capabilities, but are also less confident to learn and change their own futures.   The first good news is that ensuring children receive adequate nutrition and education can foster rapid socioeconomic change and reduce inequality. The second good news is that we know what nutrition interventions we should invest in.   The first two years of child's life - and especially the first 1000 days - are a window of opportunity to prevent and tackle the adverse effects of undernutrition and their impact on the cycle of poverty. Better nutrition contributes to better education by providing every child with the ability to succeed in life.   Early nutritional programs have permanent and long-term impacts: they can help to increase the income of adults affected by malnutrition at an early age by between 5 and 50%, from country to country.   Conversely, better education means better nutrition, as maternal and nutritional education is a strong determinant of child health and well-being. Mothers without knowledge of the causes of undernutrition need education as much as food from supplementary feeding centers.   According to UNICEF, providing every woman in low and middle-income countries with primary education is expected to reduce stunting by 4%, representing 1.7 million children. Giving those women a secondary education would reduce stunting by 26%.   In light of all of these facts, undernutrition should be considered both as a development and an economic emergency. Ensuring early childhood development is not only morally right, but also economically smart.   Every $1 invested in the fight against undernutrition generates between $16 and $20 in economic return. The potential of undernourished children can be unlocked with good nutrition to develop strong brains and bodies. Nutrition is therefore key to boosting a nation's human capital.   In a global economy requiring highly skilled workers more than ever, escaping the cycle of poverty requires eradicating child undernutrition.   Overall, an investment of $70 billion over 10 years will be necessary to reach global nutrition targets for stunting, wasting, breastfeeding and anemia.   Governments need to invest today in a skilled, healthy and productive workforce in order to ensure future economic growth and allow children to be all they can be.   Investing in the fight against undernutrition is a first step to break out the poverty cycle and ensure equal opportunity.   http://globalnutritionreport.org/ http://www.who.int/news/item/31-03-2020-unicef-who-wb-jme-group-new-data http://www.wfp.org/school-meals/   No Wasted Lives - the fight to end child malnutrition.   The fight to end child malnutrition has stagnated in the past year, writes Jean-Michel Grand form Action Against Hunger.   We have a shared vision, to save millions of lives and build a brighter future for some of the most vulnerable children in the world.   That is why we are proud to be part of new campaign No Wasted Lives, a coalition of aid organisations that aims to tackle one of the leading child killers in the world: severe malnutrition.   It is one of the greatest challenges to child survival in the world today. Affecting millions of children worldwide and responsible for up to two million child deaths each year, it is the most lethal form of malnutrition.   Not only does it cause rapid and severe weight loss - leaving children physically wasted - it seriously and significantly compromises their immune system making it almost impossible to resist disease.   So much so that children with severe malnutrition are nine times more likely to die from common infections like diarrhoea.   It can be a devastating disease, but the good news is that solutions exist that in the last year alone have cured more than three million children. Simple and effective products, like therapeutic foods, and community based mechanisms to reach the most marginalised children have enabled us to save the lives of more children.   We don't need to reinvent the wheel, but we know there is still a long way to go because for more than 80 percent of children who cannot access treatment it is a death sentence.   The world will not meet the Sustainable Development Goal of eliminating preventable child deaths by 2030 without a renewed and coordinated effort to protect children from severe malnutrition.   That is why we, as part of No Wasted Lives, are committed to doubling the number of children receiving life-saving treatment for severe malnutrition to 6 million a year by 2020.   To enable six million children to access life-saving treatment each year by 2020 we will work to:   Reduce the cost of curing severely malnourished children to less than $100; Halve the cost of therapeutic foods required to cure a child from severe malnutrition; Invest and identify treatment approaches capable of reaching 70% of all severe malnutrition cases in their catchment areas; Make severe malnutrition a political priority by supporting countries with the highest burdens to adopt scale up targets.   The number of children treated for severe hunger has plateaued at just over 3 million in recent years, comprising a fraction of the at least 16 million who need it, the U.N. children's agency UNICEF said.   "Severe acute malnutrition is a silent emergency," said Diane Holland, senior nutrition advisor at UNICEF. "Greater advocacy around the issue is essential, so that governments, companies and civil society organisations mobilise and make treatment a priority," she said.   A child suffering from severe hunger is up to nine times more likely to die from malaria, pneumonia and diarrhoea, according to Saul Guerrero, director of nutrition for Action Against Hunger UK.   "The performance and impact of absolutely every intervention worldwide addressing malaria, pneumonia and diarrhoea will be significantly enhanced if the children are simultaneously treated for severe acute malnutrition," he said.   Two thirds of children who are severely malnourished are in Asia, and a third in Africa. The majority of cases are in countries where there is no hunger emergency, UNICEF said.   http://www.nowastedlives.org/state-of-acute-malnutrition http://www.nowastedlives.org/key-documents http://www.actionagainsthunger.org.uk/why-hunger/nutrition http://www.unicef.org/nutrition/ http://www.unicef.org/sdgs http://www.msf.org/malnutrition
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