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	Urgent action needed as acute malnutrition threatens the lives of millions of vulnerable children by WFP, UNICEF, FAO, WHO, UNHCR   Jan. 2023   United Nations agencies are calling for urgent action to protect the most vulnerable children in the 15 countries hardest hit by an unprecedented food and nutrition crisis.   Conflict, climate shocks, the ongoing impacts of COVID-19, and rising costs of living are leaving increasing numbers of children acutely malnourished while key health, nutrition and other life-saving services are becoming less accessible. Currently, more than 30 million children in the 15 worst-affected countries suffer from wasting – or acute malnutrition – and 8 million of these children are severely wasted, the deadliest form of undernutrition.   This is a major threat to children’s lives and to their long-term health and development, the impacts of which are felt by individuals, their communities, and their countries.   In response, five UN agencies - the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the World Health Organization (WHO) - are calling for accelerated progress on the Global Action Plan on Child Wasting. It aims to prevent, detect and treat acute malnutrition among children in the worst-affected countries, which are Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Haiti, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, the Niger, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, the Sudan and Yemen.   The Global Action Plan addresses the need for a multi-sectoral approach and highlights priority actions across maternal and child nutrition through the food, health, water and sanitation, and social protection systems.   In response to increasing needs, the UN agencies identified five priority actions that will be effective in addressing acute malnutrition in countries affected by conflict and natural disasters and in humanitarian emergencies. Scaling up these actions as a coordinated package will be critical for preventing and treating acute malnutrition in children, and averting a tragic loss of life.   The UN agencies call for decisive and timely action to prevent this crisis from becoming a tragedy for the world’s most vulnerable children. All agencies urge for greater investment in support of a coordinated UN response that will meet the unprecedented needs of this growing crisis, before it is too late.   “This situation is likely to deteriorate even further in 2023,” said QU Dongyu, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. “We must ensure availability, affordability and accessibilityof healthy diets for young children, girls, and pregnant and lactating women. We need urgent action now to save lives, and to tackle the root causes of acute malnutrition, working together across all sectors.” Qu said.   “The UN system is responding as one to this crisis and the UN Global Action Plan on Child Wasting is our joint effort to prevent, detect and treat wasting globally. At UNHCR we are working hard to improve analysis and targeting to ensure that we reach children who are most at risk, including internally displaced and refugees’ populations.” Filippo Grandi, High Commissioner, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)   “Today’s cascading crises are leaving millions of children wasted and have made it harder for them to access key services. Wasting is painful for the child, and in severe cases, can lead to death or permanent damage to children’s growth and development. We can and must turn this nutrition crisis around through proven solutions to prevent, detect, and treat child wasting early. ”Catherine Russell, Executive Director, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)   “More than 30 million children are acutely malnourished across the 15 worst-affected countries, so we must act now and we must act together. It is critical that we collaborate to strengthen social safety nets and food assistance to ensure Specialized Nutritious Foods are available to women and children who need them the most.” David Beasley, Executive Director, World Food Programme (WFP)   “The global food crisis is also a health crisis, and a vicious cycle: malnutrition leads to disease, and disease leads to malnutrition,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO).”Urgent support is needed now in the hardest hit countries to protect children’s lives and health, including ensuring critical access to healthy foods and nutrition services, especially for women and children.”   # Wasting oracute malnutrition is a form of undernutrition caused by a decrease in food consumption and/or illness that results in sudden weight loss or oedema. Children with acute malnutrition have low weight for height. They may also have nutritional oedema and other related pathological clinical signs.   Children with acute malnutrition have weakened immune systems and are at higher risk of dying from common childhood diseases. Those that survive could face lifelong growth and development challenges. They risk facing a future marked by illness, poor school results, and poverty with ripple effects across generations.   Child wasting - defined as low weight for height - is the most dangerous form of undernutrition. Severe wasting is the deadliest form, as severely wasted children are 12 times more likely to die than a well-nourished child.   http://www.wfp.org/news/urgent-action-needed-acute-malnutrition-threatens-lives-millions-vulnerable-children http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/urgent-action-needed-acute-malnutrition-threatens-lives-millions-vulnerable-children Visit the related web page
	Going to school is a lifeline for children by Education Cannot Wait, Plan International   June 2023   Number of Crisis-Impacted Children in Need of Education support rises significantly, reports Education Cannot Wait   Armed conflicts, forced displacement, climate change and other crises increased the number of crisis-impacted children in need of urgent quality education to 224 million, according to a new Global Estimates Study issued today by Education Cannot Wait (ECW), the United Nations global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises.   The study was released at the Education in Emergencies Summit in Geneva. The study offers a refined methodology in calculating the numbers of crisis-impacted children in need of educational support, while providing important trends analysis to inform future investments in education in emergencies and protracted crises.   “We are sounding the alarm bells worldwide, once more. Millions of children are being denied their human right to an education and the numbers are growing. And even when they are able to go to school, they are not really learning because the quality of education is simply too low. Education Cannot Wait and all the education community are working against time. It is a sprint for humanity. How many more facts and figures, and above all, human suffering, do we need before we act with boldness and determination to finance education and invest in humanity?” said Yasmine Sherif, Executive Director of Education Cannot Wait.   About 72 million of the crisis-impacted children in the world are out of school. Of these out-of-school children, 53% are girls, 17% have functional difficulties, and 21% (about 15 million) have been forcibly displaced. Approximately half of all out-of-school children in emergencies are concentrated in only eight countries: Ethiopia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Myanmar, Mali and Nigeria.   It isn’t just a problem of access, it’s a problem of quality, according to the study findings. More than half of these children – 127 million – are not achieving the minimum proficiencies outlined in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG4), which calls for inclusive, quality education for all. Even when crisis-impacted children are in school, they are not learning to read or do basic math.   Investing in girls’ education yields significant returns. Girls consistently show a strong learning potential whenever they are given the opportunity. Even in crises, the proportion of girls who achieve minimum proficiency in reading is consistently higher than that of their male counterparts, according to analysis from the study.   Nevertheless, gender disparities in education access and transition become more pronounced in secondary education and are largest in high-intensity crises. They are particularly significant in Afghanistan, Chad, South Sudan and Yemen, according to the study.   The biggest challenges are hitting the children of Africa. Approximately 54% of crisis-affected children worldwide live in sub-Saharan Africa. The region experienced a large-scale increase in the number of children affected by crises, primarily driven by large-scale droughts in Eastern Africa and the increasing intensity of several conflicts. The outbreak of civil war in Sudan is displacing even more people across the continent.   Education Cannot Wait is dedicated to working together with governments, donors, UN agencies, civil society and other key strategic partners to address the challenges identified in the study. The global multilateral fund has already reached more than 7 million children across more than 40 crisis-affected countries worldwide. ECW seeks to mobilize at least US$1.5 billion over the next four years to reach a total of 20 million children with the safety, power and opportunity that access to quality, holistic, inclusive learning opportunities offer.   http://www.educationcannotwait.org/news-stories/press-releases/number-crisis-impacted-children-in-need-education-support-rises http://www.educationcannotwait.org/resource-library/crisis-affected-children-and-adolescents-in-need-education-support-new-global   Jan. 2023   Our investment in education – especially for children caught in crisis and conflict – is our investment in a better future.   As we mark the International Day of Education, world leaders must make good on their promise of providing quality education for all by 2030.   Education is our investment in peace where there is war, our investment in equality where there is injustice, our investment in prosperity where there is poverty.   Make no mistake about it, there is a global education crisis that threatens to unravel decades of development gains, spur new conflicts, and upend economic and social progress across the globe.   As UN Secretary-General António Guterres highlighted at last year’s Transforming Education Summit: “If we are to transform our world by 2030 as envisaged by the Sustainable Development Goals, then the international community must give this education crisis the attention it deserves.”   When Education Cannot Wait (ECW), the United Nations global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises, was founded in 2016, we estimated that 75 million crisis-impacted children required urgent education support. Today, that number has tripled to 222 million.   Of the 222 million children whose right to an education has been ripped from their hands by the multiplying impacts of conflict, climate change and other protracted crises, an estimated 78 million are out of school all together – more than the total populations of France, Italy or the United Kingdom.   Even when they are in school, many are not achieving minimum proficiencies in reading or math. Think about this terrifying statistic: 671 million children and adolescents worldwide cannot read. That’s more than 8% of the world’s total population. That’s an entire generation at risk of being lost.   As we have seen from the war in Ukraine, the challenges of the Venezuelan migration to Colombia and South America, the unforgiveable denial of education for girls in Afghanistan, and a devastating climate change-driven drought in the Horn of Africa that has created a severe hunger crisis for over 22 million people, we are living in an interconnected world. The problems of Africa, the Middle East, South America, and beyond are the problems of the world that we share together.   Every minute of every day, children are fleeing violence and persecution in places like Myanmar, the Sahel, South America and the Middle East. Every minute of every day, boys are being recruited as child soldiers in Somalia, the Central African Republic and beyond.   Every minute of every day, the climate crisis wreaks further havoc, and children go hungry because they are denied their right to go to school, where they might just have their only meal of the day.   And amid conflict, migration and climate change, governments like Colombia are struggling to secure the most basic living and education conditions for children in hard-to-reach borders.   It’s an assault on our humanity, a moral affront to the binding promises outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and a giant step backwards in our persistent efforts – against all odds – to find peace in our times.   There is hope. By embracing a new way of working and delivering with humanitarian speed and development depth, Education Cannot Wait and its partners have reached 7 million children in just five years, with plans to reach 20 million more over the next four years.   Imagine what an education can mean for a child of war? In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 13-year-old Nyota lost her father and brothers in a brutal attack on her village. Her family’s home was burnt to the ground.   In a country where 3.2 million children are out of school, Nyota’s future was bleak. Would she be a child bride, the victim of sexual violence, another tragic statistic in a forgotten crisis?   No. She did not give up. With the support of an innovative programme funded by ECW, Nyota is back in school. “When I have completed my studies, I dream of becoming the President of my country to end the war here. That will allow children to study in peace and not endure the same horrible things that I have.”   Nyota is not alone: we have received inspiring letters from girls and boys in over 20 crisis-affected countries across the world that underscore the amazing value of education in transforming lives and creating a better future for generations to come.   We are calling on the people of the world to invest in the promise of an education. It’s the best investment we could make in delivering on the Sustainable Development Goals.   Nyota and millions like her are not giving up on their dream, and we shouldn’t give up on them. We have promises to keep.   "Going to school is a lifeline for children, especially girls. Yet, around the world, children are being denied this fundamental right. We have heard about the near total ban on girls' education in Afghanistan and the catastrophic consequences of this. But the denial of girls' fundamental right to education goes far beyond Afghanistan. From Ukraine to South Sudan, conflict is disrupting girls' education as families are forced to flee for their safety – indeed, half of all refugee children are out of school,” says Global CEO of Plan International Stephen Omollo.   “Right now, 222 million crisis-affected children and adolescents need urgent education support and more than half of those are girls. It is critical that Education Cannot Wait is fully funded to ensure our global strategic partners, such as Plan International, are able to continue their impactful work to provide the safety, hope and opportunity of an education to the world’s most vulnerable girls and boys,” said Yasmine Sherif, Director of Education Cannot Wait.   “In too many countries, education is being cut short by hunger or extreme weather linked to the climate crisis – or sometimes a combination of all of these. When girls are forced to drop out of school, it isn't just their education and life opportunities that suffer,” said Omollo.   “Adolescent girls, in particular, become even more vulnerable to violence, exploitation, early pregnancy and harmful practices, from child marriage to female genital mutilation. Indeed, the chances of a girl marrying as a child reduce by 6% with each year she remains in secondary education. We know that girls in crisis settings are nearly 2.5 times more likely to be out of school than those living in countries not in crisis.”   COVID-19 has shown, on a scale not seen before, the devastating impact health emergencies can have on learning for all children, especially girls. The pandemic has threatened decades of development gains, with children in crisis contexts being the most at risk.   Climate change is leading to more frequent and severe weather disasters, and perpetuating cycles of poverty, hunger, and displacement. In fact, the climate crisis is disrupting the education of 40 million children every year.   Conflicts lead to forced displacement and put children – especially girls – at grave risk of gender-based violence, child marriage and other violations of their human rights. As new frontiers of violence and instability emerge, girls are more at risk than ever before of being excluded from education.   Plan International and Education Cannot Wait also underline the importance of ensuring refugee and internally displaced children aren't overlooked and call for concrete commitments towards inclusive quality education for displaced children and youth.   These trends put untold pressure on economies, education systems and international assistance. Nevertheless, education responses are severely underfunded in emergencies and protracted crises. The total annual funding for education in emergencies as a percentage of the global sector-specific humanitarian budget in 2021 was just 2%. Plan International and Education Cannot Wait urge donor governments to increase humanitarian aid to education immediately.   http://www.educationcannotwait.org/222milliondreams http://www.educationcannotwait.org/news-stories/postcards-the-edge http://plan-international.org/quality-education/ http://www.nrc.no/opinions-all/educating-the-worlds-children-of-conflict/ http://www.internal-displacement.org/expert-opinion/barriers-to-quality-education-for-internally-displaced-children http://www.internal-displacement.org/informing-better-access-to-education-for-idps http://www.unhcr.org/education.html http://www.unhcr.org/emergencies.html http://www.ipsnews.net/2023/02/climate-crisis-is-a-child-crisis-and-climate-resilient-children-teachers-and-schools-must-become-top-international-agenda/ http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/unicef-executive-director-catherine-russells-remarks-education-cannot-wait-high http://www.unicef.org/emergencies http://www.wfp.org/publications/state-school-feeding-worldwide-2022   * The Impact of COVID-19 School Closures. During 2021 and 2022, the Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action and the Inter-agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE), conducted participatory research across three humanitarian settings—Lebanon, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Colombia— to understand how children have experienced the impact of COVID-19 school closures on their protection, well-being, and education inequalities: http://tinyurl.com/3rmtbtcj Visit the related web page
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