Press centre
Nutrition
Key figures on nutrition
- Some 148 million children under five in the developing world – or one in four – suffer from undernutrition, more than half of them in South Asia.
- Low birth weight, which is related to maternal malnutrition, is a causal factor in 60 to 80 per cent of neonatal deaths.
- High coverage with optimal breastfeeding practices, especially exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life, could have the single largest impact on child survival, with the potential to prevent 1.4 million under-five deaths, yet rates of exclusive breastfeeding are only 39 percent in developing countries;
- Although about 70 per cent of the world’s households now use iodized salt, still thirty-eight million newborns worldwide remain unprotected from potential brain damage and reduced learning performance caused by iodine deficiency disorder, a condition that is avoided by the use of iodized salt.
- Seventy-two percent of all children in developing countries receive at least one dose of vitamin A supplementation, with double-dose coverage increasing nearly fourfold between 1999 and 2007, which markedly reduces child morbidity, mortality and nutrition-related blindness.
Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM)
- UNICEF supports the widespread adoption of the community-based approach to management of severe acute malnutrition. This approach involves timely detection of severe acute malnutrition in the community and provision of treatment for those without medical complications with ready to use therapeutic foods (RUTF) at home. If properly combined with facility based care for those with complications and implemented on a large scale, this approach could prevent the deaths of hundreds of thousands of children.
- UNICEF is the largest global purchaser of RUTF, providing this high-energy, fortified food for the treatment of children with severe acute malnutrition. UNICEF is also working with partners and industry to scale up RUTF production to meet projected increasing demand.
Infant Feeding
- UNICEF advocates for initiation of breastfeeding within the first hour of birth and exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life. Thereafter, infants should receive nutritionally adequate, safe, age appropriate and responsive complementary feeding while breastfeeding continues for up to two years of age or beyond.
- The agency works with partners, governments and communities to improve infant and young child feeding practices, focusing on national level support for policy development, planning and legislation, health system actions to ensure baby friendly maternity and infant care and build capacities of health workers, boosting resources for new mothers at community level, support for communication for behaviour and social change and support for infant feeding in especially difficult circumstances such as emergencies and in the context of HIV/AIDS.
Micronutrients
- UNICEF procures nutritional supplies such as Vitamin A, iron, zinc, iodine and multi-micronutrient supplements, raises awareness about the importance of supplementation of these micronutrients for appropriate target groups and circumstances. For example, in countries with high child mortality rates nationwide efforts to supplement children between the ages of six months and five years with Vitamin A twice a year are supported successfully.
- UNICEF works with partners from the public and private sector to eliminate iodine deficiency – the primary cause of preventable mental retardation and brain damage – through universal salt iodization. The agency also continues its advocacy role to push for universal access to iodized salt and raise awareness of the insidious effects of iodine deficiency in children. UNICEF also engages in partnerships to eliminate other vitamin and mineral deficiencies through food fortification such as the fortification of wheat flour with iron and folic acid to reduce anemia and neural tube defects.
Updated - May 2009
