one in four children.........one in four children.........one in four children..............

More than one quarter of all children under the age of five in developing countries are underweight, many to a life-threatening degree, says a UNICEF report published yesterday. Poor nutrition remains a global epidemic contributing to more than half of all child deaths, about 5.6 million per year.

Progress for Children: A Report Card on Nutrition says the proportion of children under five who are underweight has fallen only slightly since 1990 - proof, according to UNICEF, that the world is failing children.

In South Asia, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan account for half of all the world’s underweight children: Approximately 47 per cent of India’s under-five population is underweight, dragging down the regional average.

Because the roots of undernutrition lie in poverty, lack of education and inequality, fighting back will take more than food deliveries, according to Progress for Children. Unsafe feeding practices and repeated bouts of illness such as diarrhoea and malaria are all major factors depriving children of nutrients. And in sub-Saharan Africa, HIV/AIDS is robbing millions of children of the support they need to be adequately fed and cared for. UNICEF has convened a global campaign, “Unite for Children. Unite Against AIDS”, to bring much needed care, treatment and support for children affected by the epidemic.

Solutions can be as simple as a capsule of vitamin A costing just a few cents delivered during immunization – a programme currently saving around 350,000 lives per year by boosting immune systems. And fortifying staple foods with key nutrients like iron and iodine is a proven way to protect millions of children against damaging deficiencies and developmental delays.

The report calls urgently for a nutrition “safety net” to guarantee children’s access to these services every day. This means making child nutrition a central component of national policies and budgets, providing better nutrition information and resources for families, and planning to cope with emergencies.

These statistics break my heart, and it all seems so unnecessary and inhumane to ignore the plight of the innocents. Every child is a blessing. Every child deserves our love and recognition. No child should suffer the excruciation of starving to death. It's beyond appalling.

Healthy prenatal nutrition and practises as well as the recognition that the first two years of life is crucial in the development of the child's body and brain is essential. Any plan needs to focus on supporting these two factors. Feed the moms so that they can feed their babies throughout breastfeeding. Provide the vitiamins and nutrients, and focus on clean water.
This is not impossible to provide. And yet................... we continue to fail as global parents of these children.

What's really sad as well? Though the numbers are minute compared to the developing countries, we have children in this country who go to be hungry and get up in the morning hungry and go to school with an empty stomach. This is not an isolated exception. There are children in every school across this country who are starving and undernourished.

Despite the food banks; despite social assistance; despite community kitchens, breakfast programs, government early intervention programs, and church programs....despite all of this, we have children living amongst us who are undernourished, whose mother's did not care for themselves during their pregnancies and then did not provide proper nutrition. These children then will continue to lag behind developmentally through infancy, toddlerdom, preschool and all through school because their first years were not nutured properly.

The cycle of poverty is massive in developing countries. But, the cycle of poverty exists in our own backyard. Who cares for the children who are not properly cared for? Who will intervene when there is neglect?

Neglect is an invisible and deadly form of child abuse.