The United Nations Children’s Funds, (UNICEF), and the United Nations World Food Programme, (WFP), have warned that an estimated 15.4 million cases of acute malnutrition in children under the ages of five are expected in West and Central Africa this year.
The organisations also alerted that one-third of the children would be down with its most severe form if adequate measures are not put in place now.
The new estimate, according to them represents a 20 per cent increase from earlier estimates, in January 2020.
The analysis contained in the combined impact of food insecurity and COVID-19 on acute malnutrition in 19 countries of the region, noted that “Conflict and armed violence have led to massive population displacements and drastically limited access to basic social services, leading child malnutrition to increase to unprecedented levels”.
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