10 March 2025

Yemen's Malnutrition Crisis: A Growing Threat to Children's Lives

In many parts of Yemen, access to food, clean water, and healthcare remains critically inadequate as a result of the Yemen's ongoing conflict and economic crisis. This have fueled a devastating malnutrition crisis, with the highest rates globally. According to the latest IPC Acute Malnutrition Analysis, the number...
06 November 2023

Transforming the fight against severe malnutrition

It was the middle of the night. Raneem Hani Ahmed Hasan was worried. She knew she had to do something immediately. “I was so scared when my son got sick. I jumped on a motorbike at 2 a.m.,” she remembers. Raneem’s 4-month-old son, Sanad, had been vomiting and suffering from diarrhoea. “Women in our town don’t ride...
05 October 2022

4 things you need to know about water and famine

Conflict, climate change, poverty and most recently the COVID-19 pandemic are driving massive humanitarian crises, leaving millions at risk of famine. Children are the most vulnerable during periods of famine and extreme food insecurity, facing a greater likelihood of severe malnutrition and death. These crises al...
05 October 2022

Stopping one of the biggest threats to child survival

Many people have never heard of severe wasting , also known as ‘severe acute malnutrition’. But that doesn’t change how excruciatingly painful the condition – which is caused by a lack of nutritious food and repeated bouts of diseases such as diarrhoea, measles and malaria – is for the millions of children battlin...
05 October 2022

Parwana’s journey to recovery from severe acute malnutrition

HERAT, AFGHANISTAN ­­–, Malika rolls up her 4-year-old daughter’s sleeve revealing an alarmingly thin arm. Little Parwana came with her mother to the UNICEF-supported health facility in the nick of time. She has little energy, her skin is dry and wrinkled, and her cheeks are hollow. She weighs just 9 kilogrammes, ...
07 January 2021

Addressing Malaysia’s nutrition crisis post-COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a severe economic crisis, further exacerbating food and nutrition insecurity. The pandemic has disrupted global food supply chains, and movement restrictions have negatively impacted almost every step of agricultural distribution channels. This disruption in food production an...
18 October 2019

State of the World's Children 2019

For the first time in 20 years, UNICEF’s flagship report examines the issue of children, food and nutrition, providing a fresh perspective on a rapidly evolving challenge. This 2019 edition of The State of the World’s Children (SOWC) examines the issue of children, food and nutrition, providing a fresh perspective...
18 October 2019

Hungry in the City

As part of a special report for the State of the World's Children 2019, UNICEF visited a low cost flat in Kuala Lumpur to highlight the daily struggle faced by families to put nutritious food on the table when their incomes fall below Malaysia's poverty line. Despite living in the glare of city lights, their reali...
18 October 2019

Children, Food and Nutrition: State of the World's Children 2019

Malaysia's double burden, Food is a point of pride in Malaysia. We boast having the best cuisine the world over. Even love as an expression is best shown through the iconic greeting, " Sudah makan ?" (have you eaten?). Yet, despite this pride in food culture - there are children in Malaysia who are still not getti...