The Telegraph :
Vulnerable children around the world are being put at increased risk of malnutrition thanks to school closures, Unicef and the World Food Programme (WFP) have warned.
More than 39 billion in-school meals have been missed globally since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, new research from the organisations has found.
According to their latest report, Covid-19: Missing More Than a Classroom, 370 million children worldwide – many of whom are reliant on school meals as a key source of their daily nutrition – have missed on average 40 per cent of in-school meals since Covid-19 restrictions shuttered classrooms last year.
“School provides so much more than a place of learning. It gives children a lifeline to protection and support, health services and a source of nutrition,” said Unicef executive director Henrietta Fore of the findings.
“Too many vulnerable children have been cut off from their main daily food source since school closures began, the repercussions of which will be felt by them and their families for years to come.”
In total there has been a 30 per cent overall reduction in the coverage of essential nutrition services in low- and middle-income countries since the pandemic began, the organisations say.
And last year, Unicef launched a domestic emergency response to help feed UK children for the first time in its more than 70-year history thanks to the pandemic.
Even before the pandemic existing nutrition deficits among school-age children and adolescents was already cause for significant concern, the report warns.
Vulnerable children around the world are being put at increased risk of malnutrition thanks to school closures, Unicef and the World Food Programme (WFP) have warned.
More than 39 billion in-school meals have been missed globally since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, new research from the organisations has found.
According to their latest report, Covid-19: Missing More Than a Classroom, 370 million children worldwide – many of whom are reliant on school meals as a key source of their daily nutrition – have missed on average 40 per cent of in-school meals since Covid-19 restrictions shuttered classrooms last year.
“School provides so much more than a place of learning. It gives children a lifeline to protection and support, health services and a source of nutrition,” said Unicef executive director Henrietta Fore of the findings.
“Too many vulnerable children have been cut off from their main daily food source since school closures began, the repercussions of which will be felt by them and their families for years to come.”
In total there has been a 30 per cent overall reduction in the coverage of essential nutrition services in low- and middle-income countries since the pandemic began, the organisations say.
And last year, Unicef launched a domestic emergency response to help feed UK children for the first time in its more than 70-year history thanks to the pandemic.
Even before the pandemic existing nutrition deficits among school-age children and adolescents was already cause for significant concern, the report warns.
It is estimated that globally the development and growth of at least 75 million children in 2019 was impaired due to food insecurity.
While global data on the overall impact of school closures on children’s nutrition is limited, country-level studies, previous knowledge of crises’ impact on food security and nutrition indicates that children are at increased risk of hunger.
The worst hit areas during the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa saw rising food insecurity in countries already facing high levels of malnutrition. And this same trend has already been seen in many countries during the Covid-19 pandemic, including in sub- Saharan Africa and South Asia, the report says.
Covid-19 is expected to be a key driver of food insecurity.
