Children facing stunted growth and other health problems caused by malnutrition in Africa are being targeted in an initiative by international humanitarian agency Concern .

Vulnerable children and their mothers will benefit from an ambitious three-year programme set up by Concern and funded by the EU in five countries. 

Kate Golden, senior nutrition adviser with Concern, said it is “totally unacceptable” in the 21st century that millions of children are still suffering the effects of malnutrition and extreme poverty.

The Concern programme will work with communiti es in Niger, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Sudan to help 500,000 children and their families.

Around  45 million children aged under five  around t he wor ld  are “ wasted”,  a term for having a very low weight for their height. Severely wasted children are nine times more likely to die than those of a healthy weight.

Nearly 150 million children have stunted growth because of malnutrition, and the condition cannot be reversed once they have reached their second birthday. A stunted child may have a poorer immune system, impaired brain function and restricted organ development.

The Concern programme is community-based and tackles some of the underlying factors that contribute to childhood malnutrition.

“Mothers often have to bring their children large distances to clinics for treatment of malnutrition or illness with huge costs to their time, their household and caring duties and livelihoods,” Ms Golden said.

 “We are tackling the root causes because prevention is better than cure, but unfortunately there are still millions of children who need treatment now who have not been reached by treatment services and their risk of death is high. 

“Conflict and climate change have been the major drivers of hunger in the world, but in the last year the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has added to the challenges faced by the world’s poorest countries.

“Without social welfare safety nets, people could not work and could not feed their families. Fears regarding Covid also meant that some people stayed away from health facilities.”

Concern is working with community health systems and governments to develop systems that anticipate food shortages to deal with surges in demand.

They will also address hygiene issues to protect young children from becom ing ill.

Limerick woman Aine Fay, who is Concern’s director in South Sudan, oversees the work of 400 mainly local staff on community-based programmes.

Speaking to the Sunday Independent, Ms Fay (67) said around  100,000 of the children and their families who will benefit from the EU-funded programme are in South Sudan.

She said areas of the country are hit by severe flooding every year,  which can destroy crops and seriously disrupt food supplies. This can lead to further deaths caused by malnutrition.

Sunday Independent