Three Risks Threatening Global Food Security

The global organization "UNICEF" warned that the world is rapidly turning into a "virtual bomb" regarding preventable child deaths and children suffering from wasting. It pointed out that "despite the increase in levels of severe wasting among children and rising costs of life-saving treatment, global funding to save the lives of children suffering from wasting is also at risk." UNICEF's Executive Director, Catherine Russell, stated, "Even before the pressures exerted by the war in Ukraine on food security worldwide, conflicts, climate shocks, and COVID-19 had catastrophic consequences on families' ability to feed their children." She noted that "currently, about 10 million children (2 out of every 3) suffering from severe wasting do not receive ready-to-use therapeutic foods, which represent a more effective treatment for wasting." The organization warned that a set of global shocks facing food security worldwide – led by the war in Ukraine, the struggles of economies to recover from COVID-19, and ongoing drought conditions in some countries due to climate change – are creating conditions for a significant increase in global levels of severe wasting. At least 13.6 million children under the age of five worldwide suffer from severe wasting, leading to one in five deaths among this age group. Source: un news