In 2023, 33 infants are born hungry every minute, according to SCI

According to recent data released on World Children’s Day by Save the Children International, an estimated 17.6 million children would be born hungry in 2023, or around 33 children each minute, a 22% increase from a decade ago.

Using the most recent national statistics on the prevalence of undernourishment from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and UN estimates on the number of births, the study predicted that Africa and Asia would account for 95% of all undernourished babies in 2023.

In respect of this, Save the Children has urged world leaders to meet in the United Kingdom for a global food security conference to address the core causes of the severe food and nutrition crisis.

Only by putting an end to global conflict, addressing the climate crisis and global inequality, and building more resilient health, nutrition, and social protection systems that are less vulnerable to shocks like COVID-19, conflicts, and the climate crisis will we be able to ensure that the same warnings do not ring out again in the coming years, according to the organization.

Save the Children also calls for increased collaboration, engagement, and investment across sectors, as well as leadership from local communities, to strengthen response planning and execution, as well as our ability to act early and avoid predictable shocks from becoming crises.

The organisation is also urging world leaders to expand low-cost programs to prevent and treat malnutrition, including community-based treatment for acute malnutrition, breastfeeding support and protection, and investment in community and primary-level healthcare.

The Regional Director for Advocacy, Campaigns, Communications, and Media for Save the Children in West and Central Africa, Vishna Shah-Little, said: “More than 17 million newborns will this year enter a world where hunger will eat away at their childhood. Hunger will destroy their dreams, silence their play, disrupt their education, and threaten their lives.

“The future of these children is already compromised before they even take their first breath. We must protect their childhoods and futures before it’s too late.

“Hunger is not a lost cause. We have the power to significantly reduce the number of malnourished children right now, as we have in the past.
“However, if we do not tackle the root causes of hunger and malnutrition, we will continue to see the reversal of progress made for children. This is a global hunger crisis, and it requires a global solution,” Vishna Shah-Little noted.

In the past, significant progress has been achieved toward reducing world hunger. In the past, significant progress has been achieved toward reducing world hunger.
According to the study, 21.5 million infants were born hungry in 2001, which is one-fifth higher than in 2023. However, growth began to slow dramatically in 2019, owing mostly to economic insecurity, conflicts, and a rising climate disaster.

The most recent country data on undernourishment was released before the intensification of conflict in the occupied Palestinian territory, where 2.3 million people in Gaza have struggled to eat owing to the continuous bombing.

Using the UN’s birth rate in Gaza, Save the Children estimated that more than 66,000 kids will be born in Gaza this year, with more than 15,000 born between October 7 and the end of 2023. Without a ceasefire, babies’ lives will hang in the balance from the moment they are born.