UNICEF Director of Child Nutrition and Development Victor Aguayo’s remarks on the Global Report on Food Crises 2024

"Good afternoon, I’d like to say a few words about child malnutrition. 

"Wasting is the most life-threatening form of malnutrition. We often refer to it as acute malnutrition. Wasting remains very high among children living in countries that are experiencing food crises.

"This is due to the inability of families to access or afford nutritious foods for their children, as well as the lack of access to health, nutrition, water, and sanitation services. These threats grow fast during conflict situations – which also reduce humanitarian access to the most vulnerable children and communities.

"The global report highlights a concerning increase of child wasting, with critical levels in eight countries: Cameroon, Chad, Djibouti, Haiti, Sudan, Syria, Uganda, and Yemen.

"My colleagues from FAO and WFP have described the situation in Gaza as one of the most severe food and nutrition crises in history. It’s important to remember that nearly half of Gaza’s population who are suffering this devastation are children.

"I was in Gaza last week and I saw how months of war on civilians and severe restrictions to humanitarian response have led to a collapse of the food, health and protection systems, with catastrophic consequences for children’s nutrition.

"The diets of young children – the most vulnerable to severe malnutrition – are extremely poor, with over 90 per cent of them eating at best two types of food per day – day in, day out – for weeks and months in a context of toxic stress and lack of access to safe water and sanitation. And we estimate that well over 50,000 children suffer from acute malnutrition and need lifesaving treatment, now.  

"While in Gaza, I met doctors, nurses and nutrition workers implementing the programmes that we support. I walked through markets and neighborhoods – or what is left of them. I listened to the struggles of mothers and fathers to feed their children. And there is no doubt in my mind that the risk of famine and a large-scale severe nutrition crisis in Gaza is real. 

"There is only one way to prevent it: we need a ceasefire, immediately, and with a ceasefire, sustained and large-scale humanitarian access to the entire Gaza Strip. Only this – ceasefire and unrestricted humanitarian response – will allow families to access food, including specialized nutrition for young children, nutrition supplements for pregnant women, and health, water, and sanitation services for the entire population. 

"In the Sudan, over 25 million people are affected by food insecurity – including nearly 3.7 million children who are experiencing acute malnutrition. And these numbers are continuing to rise due to mass displacement, limited humanitarian access, disrupted health and nutrition services, and the onset of the lean season.

"UNICEF is calling for an unrestricted and large-scale humanitarian response for the early prevention, detection and treatment of acute malnutrition among the most vulnerable children, particularly those under 5 years of age, and their mothers, whose lives are under threat due to these multiple escalating crises. 

"Thank you."