Nutrition and
life-saving therapeutic food

Nutrition: Why it matters

When children get the right food at the right time their brains and bodies develop the way they should. When this doesn’t happen, malnutrition occurs. In worst cases, it robs children of their futures and and leaves young lives hanging in the balance.

We work to prevent all forms of malnutrition by improving children’s and women’s access to nutritious, safe, affordable and sustainable diets.

Since 1990, the percentage of undernourished children worldwide has almost halved. But we still have a lot of work to do. Today over 200 million children’s lives are at risk because they are malnourished — almost twice as many suffer from deficiencies in vitamins and other essential micronutrients.

We’re determined to end all forms of hunger for children everywhere. We help communities and strengthen systems to prevent malnutrition before it occurs. And when it does, we’re there to provide all the resources needed to save lives.

Preventing malnutrition

For children who suffer it, malnutrition has lifelong consequences, affecting their performance in school and hence future career prospects. This has an impact on entire populations, contributing to a cycle of poverty. That’s why we’re doing everything we can to work with communities and governments to prevent malnutrition and break that vicious cycle.

We’re there for families right from the beginning. We support expecting mothers to have a safe pregnancy, so they give birth to healthy babies and we support the provision of healthcare and essential micronutrients throughout childhood. In places like Liberia, we’ve helped mothers in remote locations get a better understanding of child health and nutrition, so they can go on to inform and strengthen their own communities.

Treating malnutrition when it happens

Despite amazing progress, each year we still support the treatment of millions of children for malnutrition. Conflict and disasters can quickly put children in danger and, in many parts of the world, lack of access to services and information leaves families vulnerable.

Sabna Mohamed, mother of 9-month-old daughter Fatuma, struggled during the hunger season, the period between planting and harvesting crops, made worse by financial challenges. Sabna now receives regular nutritional advice and financial support to ensure her family are healthy. She also visits a UNICEF-supported health facility, where she attended antenatal care sessions, received iron supplementation tablets and immunisations for herself and Fatuma.

Life-saving therapeutic food in emergencies

Conflicts and disasters can have devastating effects on families’ ability to access nutritious food, putting huge numbers of children at risk of malnutrition. When an emergency hits, we lead the global response, coordinating other humanitarian organisations to deliver life-saving therapeutic food to where it’s needed as quickly as possible.

In East Africa there is a food crisis. At least 20 million children are facing severe drought conditions. Four failed rainy seasons in a row have killed livestock and crops – a vital life source. This has driven over 7 million people from their homes in search of food. We are providing urgent life-saving support to millions of people. Last year we provided over 800,000 children under 5 years with treatment for severe acute malnutrition.