17.6m born into hunger, as Africa tops number of malnourished children

A global child rights organisation, Save the Children, has revealed that at least 17.6 million children will be born into hunger across the globe in 2023.

Save the Children made this known in a statement on Monday to commemorate this year’s World Children’s Day.

The charity organisation said about one-fifth more newborns face the challenge of hunger in 2023 compared to 14.4 million in 2013, according to a research analysis.

“At least 17.6 million children, or one child every two seconds will be born into hunger this year, which is a 22% jump from a decade ago, according to new Save the Children research released today on World Children’s Day,” the statement read.

“Save the Children found about one-fifth more newborns will face hunger this year compared to 2013 when 14.4 million children were born into the grips of hunger.

“This figure was calculated using the latest country data on the prevalence of undernourishment from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN (FAO ) and UN estimates on the number of births.”

The organisation also established that world’s malnourished children are mostly found in Africa and Asia, adding that economic instability, conflicts and climate crises are responsbile for the hunger biting the world.

“Economic instability, conflicts and repeated climate shocks have contributed to a devastating hunger crisis that is affecting every corner of the world.

“According to the analysis, Africa and Asia account for 95% of the world’s undernourished births in 2023. The data does not include the impact the escalation of violence in the occupied Palestinian territory is having on hunger or the birth rate in the region.”

The statement also quoted the Head of Hunger and Nutrition at Save the Children UK, Callum Northcote as saying, “More than 17 million newborns will this year enter a world where hunger will eat away at their childhood.

“That’s 33 children a minute – or one child every two seconds. Hunger will destroy their dreams, silence their play, disrupt their education, and threaten their lives.”

“The future of these children is already compromised before they even take their first breath. We must protect their childhoods and futures before it’s too late.”

He added, “Huge progress has been made in the past to reduce global hunger. According to the analysis, 21.5 million children were born into hunger in 2001, one-fifth more than in 2023.

“However, progress started to significantly decline in 2019, largely due economic instability, conflicts, and the worsening climate crisis.”