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unicefscpomenton
Jan 31, 20233 min read

Malnutrition UNICEF report

Written By: Angeliki Vytogianni and Lise Thorsen


The UN World Food Program reports that 828 million people are in a state of hunger. 345 million are facing acute food insecurity, having thus more than doubled relatively to 135 million in 2019. 49 million people in 49 different countries are on the edge of famine.


The Global Hunger Index reports negative progress in Sustainable Development Goal 2 for 2022. The overlapping crises that the world is currently facing have not only exposed and accentuated the existing vulnerabilities but also created new issues of insecurity in the global food system. Human-induced climate change, violent conflicts, and the impact of the global pandemic are the three most important factors driving higher poverty numbers, food prices, limiting access to clean water and food, and increasing world hunger.


In low-income countries, the effect of starvation amongst children increases their risk of suffering from obesity in later years, as metabolic functions are distorted in their early years of formation. As a result, experts speak about the notion of a “double epidemic” of malnutrition and obesity, which is reported to “often coexist in the same community and even in the same household."


The ongoing war in Ukraine has negatively affected food security and the food supply chain, particularly in countries of the MENA region that are highly dependent on Ukrainian agricultural exports. The rise in food prices is exacerbating mass hunger and malnutrition, harshly affecting the most vulnerable. The energy crisis has also created a vicious cycle, where the profit margins of farms are being constricted to retrench on fertilizer. In turn, yields are falling which then again impacts the production of primary commodities. According to the GHI index, West Asia and North Africa face moderate hunger, yet there is a worrying trend when it comes to malnutrition numbers in most countries of the region. We notice the greatest increase in hunger, in Jordan, Lebanon, Oman and Yemen since 2014, but Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt are also struggling with food supply.


South Asia, with a hunger index of 27.4 according to the GHI, has the world’s highest hunger level, and the highest numbers of child stunting and child wasting, caused by malnutrition. India, for example, is the most impoverished country with a child wasting rate of 19.3% in the region, driving up the numbers due to its large population. Child wasting refers to the phenomenon of a child being too thin for his or her heights as the result of rapid weight loss or the failure to gain weight.


Sub-Saharan Africa has a GHI index of 27, with the highest rates of child malnutrition and child mortality. Conflict has been the central cause of food scarcity and famine, as Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, and Uganda are faced with violence in their territories. The region is also severely affected by climate factors, as it heavily relies on natural resources, fishing, farming and herding to feed its people.

Additionally, there is a surge in natural disasters linked to climate change, disrupting agricultural production. In Madagascar, drought and flooding bring its population on the verge of famine. These so-called “climate-driven famines” are, allegedly, “more likely to be localized” and eventually disperse.


The case of Afghanistan exemplifies food insecurity as a combination of factors, such as exogenous turmoil under Covid, the Taliban, and acute weather conditions. The result is more than half of the population facing severe malnutrition, especially children described as “emaciated”. Families are forced to cope by selling their daughters in exchange for rudimentary means of survival.


Overall, the situation is dire, to say the least. Without humanitarian action on a global scale to combat the most important driving factors of malnutrition at their roots, there is no hope left in seeing the numbers of cases diminish. As many plates of food as we can offer, if we do not dive deeper and resolve the causes of food insecurity, the situation is not bound to improve.




Sources:

“Global, Regional, and National Trends in World Hunger.” Global Hunger Index (GHI) - ORG, www.globalhungerindex.org/trends.html.

“A Global Food Crisis: World Food Programme.” UN World Food Programme,

“HungerMap Live.” UN World Food Programme HungerMap, https://hungermap.wfp.org/

“Malnutrition in Children.” UNICEF DATA, 6 Sept. 2022,

“The World Must Act Now to Stop Afghans Starving.” The Economist, The Economist Newspaperwww.economist.com/leaders/2021/11/13/the-world-must-act-now-to-stop-afghans-starving.

“Obese Children Will Outnumber the Underweight for the First Time.” The Economist, The Economist Newspaper, https://www.economist.com/the-world-ahead/2021/11/08/obese-children-will-outnumber-the-underweight-for-the-first-time

“Progress to Eradicate Global Hunger Is Stalling.” The Economist, The Economist Newspaper, www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2022/03/09/progress-to-eradicate-global-hunger-is-stalling.


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unicefscpomenton
Jan 31, 20232 min read

Mental Health: its importance for children in conflict settings

Written by: Angeliki Vytogianni


The reality for many children around the world encompasses mental health struggles, in terms of their social, psychological and emotional wellbeing. Particularly for children in conflict settings, the statistics show that they are at great risk for their psychological health, most commonly suffering from PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder), depression, anxiety, sleep or eating disorders, behavioral issues. Due to the disruption in their lives, they usually experience three different stages of stress, as established by Lemonjava, Antia, and Lobjanidze in their study on the psychological health of refugee children. In their study, they identify the trauma and stress because of conflict in their home country, the stress of the journey of migration, and then the stress during the process of integration upon their arrival to the country that hosts them. The extreme instability in a child’s life often leads to severe issues, and due to the conditions, support is limited and excluded from primary health provision, despite being equally as important.


While many recognise this importance of a holistic child protection model that focuses on mental health and wellbeing, it is rarely fully provided. Refugees are used in the big game of politics as a means of tension between countries, examples being Greece and Turkey, or Spain and Morocco. The provision of high quality care is also very expensive and needs a certain amount of infrastructure, thus many states do not allocate adequate funds for it, while humanitarian aid organizations can only do so much. Despite the occasional positive interventions, pathways to specialized services have not been fully established or are not functional, while children under refugee status desperately need targeted material and professional assistance. Often being victims of trafficking, violence, torture, or prisoners of war, children are barely supported in a contructive way, instead their situation is being exacerbated by the state of limbo they are usually faced when waiting to obtain their legal papers and reach their final destination.


Moreover, as we have seen in many areas of life, the COVID-19 pandemic has compounded issues, and children in conflict or refugee status have experienced added stress due to the health crisis. Fear of the virus, confinement, isolation measures and a lack of clear information have contributed to an increase in mental health issues reported.

Recovery after the stress and torment that refugee children experience is possible, however, it is an extensive and demanding process. Support and rehabilitation-integration programs are necessary to ensure that children find themselves in a safe, secured environment with all the resources and conditions they need, in order to grow up and reach their full potential. This takes time, attention and funding, thus we, as a society, and as a generation that will take the lead, need to set the priorities straight and act on this crucial issue for children that are suffering.


Source: Lemonjava, N. et al. (2020) Mental health status of refugee children, European Journal of Public Health, Volume 30. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckaa166.752



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unicefscpomenton
Jan 2, 20223 min read

Rape Culture in Nigeria

How corrupt governance, societal norms and beleifs on gender roles, have heavily impacted the prevlance of sexual violence in Nigeria


Author: Vanessa Lolomari



Before the age of 18, 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 10 boys experience sexual violence in Nigeria.


“There is no day in the country, without a reported case of sexual violence, more specifically rape in the media.” Nigeria’s Minister for Women Affairs and Social Development has put forth the statistic that about two million Nigerians (mainly women and girls) are raped every year.


This alarming figure reveals the systematic failure on the part of the Nigerian government for handling this crime. Nigerian police have taken an active effort to silence victims who have spoken up about their sexual assaults. For example, in 2019, a Nigerian female photographer Busola Dakolo spoke out against a well-known pastor in Nigeria, Biodun Fatoyinbo “raping her twice before she turned 18.” Instead of getting the justice Dokolo sought when turning to the police, Dakolo ended up having to pay Fatoyinbo $2,500 for “defamation.” This unjustness reveals the corruptness of Nigeria’s legal system, with “police often being accused of committing rape themselves, and blaming victims on their clothing or lifestyle, or dismissing cases altogether.”


Sexual violence in Nigeria starts within a child’s home from an extremely young age; approximately 1 in 10 children’s first experience is between ages 6 and 11, with parents, adult relatives, adults within the neighborhood, and teachers being the “most frequent perpetrators of the first incident of physical violence.” Children in Nigeria continue to be afraid to speak to adults and authority figures about their violence experienced as a child, as “out of those who have experienced sexual or physical violence, no more than 6% sought help and less than 5% received help.” Nigerian boys and girls have pointed out that barriers such as “not thinking the violence was problematic” have prevented them from going to look for help. This lack of conversation leaves grave and serious impacts on both Nigerian boy’s and girl’s lives due to the fact sexual violence is associated with “higher risk for symptoms or diagnosis of sexually transmitted infections, mental distress, and thoughts of suicide among females, and mental distress among males.”


There is an extreme problem with the thought of “sexual violence not being problematic” from young boys and girls. This thought attests to the fact that “Nigeria has a very strong rape culture,” and the state doesn't play any supportive role in addressing it, but rather seeks to “maintain power structures” (as viewed in Dakolo’s sexual assault case). When discussing sexual violence, it is important to discuss that belief on gender roles heavily influence the way members of society think and act. In the case of Nigeria, sexual abuse within marriages is typically “accepted”, and there is an underlying notion that “women should tolerate violence to keep a family together and should not complain to anyone when beaten or abused by her partner.” This ingrained societal norm in Nigeria has created a society where sexual violence amongst children and adults remains unspoken of, and when spoken about, is immediately shut down due to the messaging that there, in fact, cannot be “victims” of sexual assault, due to how normalized sexual violence has become.


What Can be Done About the Current Rape Culture Present in Nigeria?


A group chaired by the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Special development in Nigeria has developed a list of actions that the Nigerian government can take in response to the prevalent issue of sexual violence.

  1. There must be laws and policies which prevent and respond to violence

  2. Efforts must be taken to “create a protective environment for children,” “change perceptions of violence,” “empower children and young people,” and “improve the availability and quality of services and enhancing the capacity of professionals to work with children,”

  3. There must be increased efforts to “hold perpetrators accountable” and to increase “investment in child protection.”


Though these suggestions may be potential solutions to mitigate the current situation, I, the author offer my own suggestions as to what must be done in Nigeria:

There needs to be a transformation in the current societal norms in the country. Though this change is long-term, a shift in messaging and thinking will lead to a long-term effective outcome for the prevention of sexual abuse amongst children in Nigeria. Until then, Spreading awareness on this issue remains extremely important for supporting child victims of sexual assault in Nigeria. Victims continue to be silenced and action has not yet to be taken by the Nigerian government and police, which remains corrupt. Spread awareness by using the #MeToo hashtag, or sharing infographic posts from trusted sources.



Instagram accounts to follow/look at:




Article Sources:

file:///Users/vanessa/Downloads/summary_report_nigeria_violence_against_children_survey.pdf





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