UN says malnutrition in mothers soars in crisis-hit countries

Hello InformationWar commumity! It's been a good day and a time to share with information about crisis, violence and malnutrition of mother's that has increased drastically from what it was some years back and what it is today. Good afternoon to you all.

Coincidentally my topic today talks on women and today is International Women's Day. I want to use this medium to celebrate with all women both young and old in every continent of the world. You deserves the best and thank you for your care and love for us all.

As we celebrate this year's International Women's Day it's also good we look inwards to know what the female folks (most especially, the breastfeeding and pregnant women) are suffering on a daily basis in Africa, Asia and war prone regions like Ukraine, Syria and Russia. It's obvious that many women in this areas I've mentioned above are suffering from malnutrition and this has been confirmed by UNICEF.

The number of pregnant and breastfeeding women suffering from acute malnutrition has soared by 25 percent across 12 countries in Africa and Asia since 2020, according to a UNICEF report.

In the report published on Tuesday, UNICEF said that the number of malnourished mothers increased from 5.5 million to 6.9 million over the last two years in countries hardest hit by a global nutrition crisis, exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, drought, conflict and instability.

In the 12 countries – Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Chad, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Yemen – more than one billion adolescent girls and women are suffering from undernutrition with devastating consequences for their lives and wellbeing, said the report.

The current global food crisis that has tremendous effects on the African, Asian and some parts of the Middle East have led mother's to resort to malnutritious male. Africa has been at the receiving end of the current war in Ukraine due to the shortage of grains and fertilizers to help the farming process there.

It's a truism that malnutrition in pregnant and breastfeeding mother's isn't good at all due to the health challenges it could cause to the mother and child and for the pregnant women it could cause several complications. It is pertinent to know that if nothing is done about that it could lead to high mortality rates at it's extreme cases.

Poor nutrition in pregnant and breastfeeding women can lead to several health issues for their children, including premature births, low birth weight, stunting and wasting in newborns, according to the report.

It added that children born to malnourished mothers are also more likely to develop chronic health problems and have a higher risk of mortality.

Finally, we know that countries mentioned above facing malnutrition are faced with multiple challenges, ranging from insecurity, drought, war and civil wars. It'll be very helpful if the international community help these areas fight malnutrition from two ends: combating insecurity, drought and civil wars and also provide humanitarian aids to the affected mother's through trusted agencies.

Reference

• https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/3/8/malnutrition-in-mothers-soars-in-crisis-hit-countries-says-un