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A child carries a water canister at a Unicef refugee camp in Yemen
Photo: YAHYA ARHAB/EPA
Before the G7 summit at Schloss Elmau, the UN children's charity Unicef warns of the dramatic increase in cases of malnutrition in children: Almost eight million children under the age of five in 15 crisis countries are at risk of death, Unicef Germany said.
The worsening global food crisis has meant that the number of children with severe acute malnutrition in these particularly vulnerable countries has risen by 260,000 girls and boys since the beginning of the year.
They would need to receive therapeutic food and medical attention immediately.
"We are witnessing a powder keg catching fire," said Unicef Executive Director Catherine Russell.
“Food aid is important, but we cannot save starving children with sacks of wheat.
We must treat these children therapeutically now, before it is too late.«
$1.2 billion urgently needed
New funds are now urgently needed to care for children at risk, including in the Horn of Africa and in the Sahel, UNICEF said.
The organization needs 1.2 billion US dollars (more than 1.1 billion euros) for the procurement and distribution of therapeutic food, among other things.
The chairman of Unicef Germany, Georg Graf Waldersee, said: »In order to prevent such crises in the future, it is not enough to treat the symptoms alone.
At the same time, the G7 must act with foresight and sustainably secure and strengthen food systems and the health care of children worldwide.«
War in Ukraine one of the main causes
Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine is a major cause of the current food crisis: Ukraine is typically one of the world's largest grain exporters.
Because of the war, however, fields are now fallow, granaries are destroyed and ports are blocked, which has led to a shortage on the world market and thus to sharply rising prices.
In addition, there are persistent periods of drought due to climate change and the economic impact of the corona pandemic.
According to UNICEF, one speaks of severe acute malnutrition when a child is too thin in relation to its size.
This is the most immediate, visible and life-threatening form of malnutrition.
A weakened immune system also means that the risk of a severely acutely malnourished child dying is eleven times higher than that of a healthy child.
col/AFP/dpa