Sharing a bench with a boy drinking from a metal cup, a girl sits amidst women and their babies, spoonfeeding a rice-based oral rehydration solution to a toddler. Malnutrition plays a part in over half of all child deaths.
UNICEF/ HQ97-0331/Shehzad Noorani
Nutritious food makes children healthier. It boosts their immune system, so they don't get ill so often, and gives them the energy to learn and play. Good nutrition benefits families, their communities and the world as a whole.
Malnutrition – not getting enough food or enough of the right food - is a disaster for children. It plays a part in more than half of all child deaths worldwide. It keeps people poor, because they become weak and ill and can't work or learn. Malnutrition can even permanently damage the development of children's brains, so they'll find it difficult to learn, even when they're older. Although fewer children are undernourished than in the 1990s, 1 in 4, or 143 million under-five children in the developing world are still underweight.
Missing out on essential vitamins and minerals can seriously harm children's health. For example, iodine deficiency can impair mental growth and development. Since the 1920s iodine has been added to salt in industrialised countries but prior to 1990, few developing countries were able to do this. Many children in developing countries still suffer from an iodine deficiency. Iodine deficiency is the primary cause of preventable mental retardation and brain damage, having the most devastating impact on the brain of the developing foetus and young children in the first few years of life. Iodine deficiency also increases the chance of infant mortality, miscarriage and stillbirth. 30 per cent of households in the developing world are still not consuming iodized salt , leading to 41 million infants and newborns who are not protected.
More food doesn’t necessarily mean better nutrition. A plant called Enset (known as 'false banana') is one of the few crops that can survive scarce water and harsh temperatures. It contains no vitamins or minerals but it makes people feel full, resulting in malnutrition.
Education can help children and adults to understand more about the foods they need to stay healthy. This applies to everyone across the globe. In the western world, experts are warning that childhood obesity, often caused by a diet that is high in fat and sugar but low in nutrition, is threatening children's lives.
Famines, droughts, wars and natural disasters can leave millions of children at risk of starvation. During emergencies, young children and their mothers are particularly at risk. Alongside the World Food Programme, UNICEF works to strengthen and sustain the ability of households in emergency situations to meet their basic needs for food alongside the care of children and women, health services, and water and sanitation. We also support therapeutic feeding centres for children who become malnourished.