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Each year, malnutrition kills more children than AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis combined. Malnutrition is the leading risk factor for death in children globally: accounting for 45% of all child deaths, yet these losses are almost entirely preventable.
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly 1 in 3 people around the world had at least one form of malnutrition. Based on current trends, this number is set to rise to 1 in 2 by 2025, and the world risks backsliding on nutrition gains, with irreversible impacts on mortality and lost potential. By 2022, the impact of COVID-19 could result in an additional 11.9 million severely malnourished children. In many parts of the world, malnutrition will likely be the most deadly and long-lasting consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic – killing more people than the virus itself.
In order to tackle malnutrition, an overhaul of the world’s food and health systems is needed. The solutions to malnutrition are multi-sectoral and require close collaboration between food and health systems. To solve the global nutrition crisis equitably, we must tailor our approach to focus on food and health.
On May 12, 2021, Devex will host an online event in partnership with 1,000 Days as part of the broader Future of Food Systems series. The event will explore the challenges facing many families in low- and middle-income countries and how we must go beyond simply increasing access to nutritious food; we must also get better at integrating health and nutrition.
Register now and explore the series to learn how food systems can work better, making food fair and healthy for all.