580,000 children in Zimbabwe are living in severe food poverty

HARARE – Around 580,000 children in Zimbabwe under 5 years of age are experiencing severe child food poverty, a new global UNICEF report revealed yesterday.

The number could rise with the current El Nino induced drought.

“What and how children are fed in early childhood determines their survival and shapes their growth, development and learning for the rest of their lives. But hundreds of thousands of Zimbabwean children – especially the youngest aged between six months and two years, the poorest and the most marginalized – do not have access to the minimum nutritious foods they need during the time in their lives when good nutrition matters most for their growth and development,” UNICEF said in a statement.

In Zimbabwe, the long-term impacts of COVID-19 on child diet quality are still being seen, with the addition of multiple health outbreaks, including cholera, the impacts of the climate crisis, and rising food prices. These factors are all driving child food poverty in Zimbabwe.

“Food insecurity among Zimbabwean children could further deteriorate in 2024 with the El Nino induced drought that has caused above-average temperatures and below average rainfall, with a ‘historic’ mid-season dry spell over the 2023/2024 agricultural season,” said Dr Nicholas Alipui, UNICEF Representative in Zimbabwe, “It is urgent to address child food poverty today to avoid more children being pushed into a life-threatening status of severe malnutrition.”

According to the global UNICEF report children who consume two or less of the eight defined food groups are considered to be in severe child food poverty. Children who consume three or four food groups per day are experiencing moderate food poverty, while children who are fed five or more of the eight defined food groups are not considered to be in food poverty.

In Zimbabwe, less than one in ten children consume a daily diet containing five or more food groups, with the frequency required to ensure optimal growth and development.

The UNICEF report highlights a concerning link – that children living in severe food poverty are up to 50 per cent more likely to suffer from life-threatening malnutrition.

“In-line with Zimbabwe’s Nutrition Narrative, the Government of Zimbabwe with UNICEF and other partners, is implementing activities, under the Multi-Sectoral Food and Nutrition Security Strategy, to improve children’s diet diversity and prevent all forms of malnutrition,” further read a UNICEF statement.

“These activities focus on making nutrient-dense foods more available and accessible at household level through a network of community-based support programmes to caregivers known as Care Groups, with links to relevant services in health, water, sanitation and hygiene, social protection, and agriculture.”

Dr Alipui added: “To scale up community-based nutrition activities, additional support is needed from Government, development and humanitarian partners, national and international civil society and non-governmental organizations, and the private sector.”