UNICEF / WOMEN GIRLS NUTRITION
06-Mar-2023
00:05:25
The number of pregnant and breastfeeding adolescent girls and women suffering from acute malnutrition has soared from 5.5 million to 6.9 million – or 25 per cent – since 2020 in 12 countries hardest hit by the global food and nutrition crisis, according to a new report released by UNICEF today. UNICEF
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STORY: UNICEF / WOMEN GIRLS NUTRITION
TRT: 5:30
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT UNICEF ON SCREEN / EMBARGO UNTIL 06 MARCH 19:01 EST
LANGUAGE: MALAGASY / ARABIC / NATS
DATELINE: PLEASE CHECK SHOTLIST FOR DETAILS
TRT: 5:30
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT UNICEF ON SCREEN / EMBARGO UNTIL 06 MARCH 19:01 EST
LANGUAGE: MALAGASY / ARABIC / NATS
DATELINE: PLEASE CHECK SHOTLIST FOR DETAILS
SHOTLIST
OCTOBER 2021, AMBOASARY COMMUNE, ANOSY MADAGASCAR
1.Med shot, malnourished child crying in his mother’s arm
2.Wide shot, malnourished child in his mother’s arm being consulted by the Doctor
3.SOUNDBITE (Malagasy), Maho:
“My name is Maho. We are here because there is no rain and there is "Kere" (famine) in our community. The lack of food in our community has affected our health. When my daughter gave birth, she did not have enough to eat and could not produce enough milk for her baby. The baby has severe forms of malnutrition because the mother does not have enough milk to feed him. Currently, both mother and child are not in good health.”
3 FEBRUARY 2023, SIRE, OROMIA REGION, ETHIOPIA
4. Med shot, Birke Mulugeta, heavily pregnant, having the baby's heartbeat measured by Workitu Abera while lying on a bed.
5.Close up, Workitu Abera measuring a baby's heart rate.
6.Med shot, Workitu Abera inspecting Birke Mulugeta's eyes, tongue and throat.
7.Wide shot, baby Shurki breastfeeding while her mother Rehima Desiosio talks to Workitu Abera who is holding a container of MMS (multiple micronutrient supplements).
8.Med shot, Rehima Desiosio being screened for malnutrition.
9.Close up, Rehima Desiosio being screened for malnutrition. Tape is shows she's in the clear.
10.Wide shot, Rehima Desiosio being weighed.
9 AUGUST 2022, ZADA-E-ALI VILLAGE, MOQUR DISTRICT, BADGHIS PROVINCE, AFGHANISTAN
11. Med shot, Mahjabeen feeding her children at home.
12. Med shot, Mahjabeen not eating while watching her eat.
13. Close up, Mahjabeen not eating while watching her eat.
14. Med shot, Pan from Mahjabeen to her daughter.
15. Med shot, Mahjabeen at the small shop near her house to buy foodstuff using the money she has received from the cash distribution programme.
16.Med shot, Mahjabeen at the small shop near her house to buy foodstuff using the money she has received from the cash distribution programme.
17.Med shot, Mahjabeen at the small shop near her house to buy foodstuff using the money she has received from the cash distribution programme.
10 FEBRUARY 2023, AL SHA’AB CAMP IN ADEN, YEMEN
18. Med shot, Aml’s children eating food while Aml is watching them as there is not enough for her inside their shelter in Al Sha’ab Camp in Aden, Yemen.
19. Med shot, Aml’s children eating food while Aml is watching them as there is not enough for her inside their shelter in Al Sha’ab Camp in Aden, Yemen.
20. Med shot, Aml eating bread soaked in tea.
21. Wide shot, Fatima’s children are eating food while Fatima is watching them inside their shelter in Al Sha’ab Camp in Aden, Yemen.
22. Med shot, Fatima’s children are eating food while Fatima is watching them inside their shelter in Al Sha’ab Camp in Aden, Yemen.
23. Close up, empty bowl
24. Wide shot, Fatima taking her medicine and resting inside her shelter in Al Sha’ab Camp in Aden, Yemen.
25. Med shot, Fatima taking her medicine and resting inside her shelter in Al Sha’ab Camp in Aden, Yemen.
26. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Fatima:
“I know that I have malnutrition when the medical mobile clinic came into here, and they checked that I have malnutrition due to hunger and tiredness. Also, life is hard, so we cannot not afford fruit as apples or lemons or any food with vitamins and nutritional value.”
27. Med shot, Fatima’s medicine next to her on the mattress inside her shelter in Aden, Yemen.
28. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Dr. Rana Ali Ibrahim Al Sororri, Doctor at IDPs camps in Aden:
“One of the factors that helps the lack of undernutrition rates among adolescent, pregnant and lactating women is the continuous follow-up by health staff in camps or in IDP gathering centers.
This follow-up helps us to get a model for malnourished women, who are not aware that they are going through difficult stages. Because in pregnancy, the mother needs proper nutrition and an appropriate environment, so when we follow up on the case, we raise awareness and educate them as their level of awareness is deficient. Through follow-up, we discover malnourished women, and we count them and follow them periodically and give them micronutrients and vitamins during pregnancy, as well as nutritional and therapeutic substances that help reduce the rate of malnutrition among pregnant women.”
1.Med shot, malnourished child crying in his mother’s arm
2.Wide shot, malnourished child in his mother’s arm being consulted by the Doctor
3.SOUNDBITE (Malagasy), Maho:
“My name is Maho. We are here because there is no rain and there is "Kere" (famine) in our community. The lack of food in our community has affected our health. When my daughter gave birth, she did not have enough to eat and could not produce enough milk for her baby. The baby has severe forms of malnutrition because the mother does not have enough milk to feed him. Currently, both mother and child are not in good health.”
3 FEBRUARY 2023, SIRE, OROMIA REGION, ETHIOPIA
4. Med shot, Birke Mulugeta, heavily pregnant, having the baby's heartbeat measured by Workitu Abera while lying on a bed.
5.Close up, Workitu Abera measuring a baby's heart rate.
6.Med shot, Workitu Abera inspecting Birke Mulugeta's eyes, tongue and throat.
7.Wide shot, baby Shurki breastfeeding while her mother Rehima Desiosio talks to Workitu Abera who is holding a container of MMS (multiple micronutrient supplements).
8.Med shot, Rehima Desiosio being screened for malnutrition.
9.Close up, Rehima Desiosio being screened for malnutrition. Tape is shows she's in the clear.
10.Wide shot, Rehima Desiosio being weighed.
9 AUGUST 2022, ZADA-E-ALI VILLAGE, MOQUR DISTRICT, BADGHIS PROVINCE, AFGHANISTAN
11. Med shot, Mahjabeen feeding her children at home.
12. Med shot, Mahjabeen not eating while watching her eat.
13. Close up, Mahjabeen not eating while watching her eat.
14. Med shot, Pan from Mahjabeen to her daughter.
15. Med shot, Mahjabeen at the small shop near her house to buy foodstuff using the money she has received from the cash distribution programme.
16.Med shot, Mahjabeen at the small shop near her house to buy foodstuff using the money she has received from the cash distribution programme.
17.Med shot, Mahjabeen at the small shop near her house to buy foodstuff using the money she has received from the cash distribution programme.
10 FEBRUARY 2023, AL SHA’AB CAMP IN ADEN, YEMEN
18. Med shot, Aml’s children eating food while Aml is watching them as there is not enough for her inside their shelter in Al Sha’ab Camp in Aden, Yemen.
19. Med shot, Aml’s children eating food while Aml is watching them as there is not enough for her inside their shelter in Al Sha’ab Camp in Aden, Yemen.
20. Med shot, Aml eating bread soaked in tea.
21. Wide shot, Fatima’s children are eating food while Fatima is watching them inside their shelter in Al Sha’ab Camp in Aden, Yemen.
22. Med shot, Fatima’s children are eating food while Fatima is watching them inside their shelter in Al Sha’ab Camp in Aden, Yemen.
23. Close up, empty bowl
24. Wide shot, Fatima taking her medicine and resting inside her shelter in Al Sha’ab Camp in Aden, Yemen.
25. Med shot, Fatima taking her medicine and resting inside her shelter in Al Sha’ab Camp in Aden, Yemen.
26. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Fatima:
“I know that I have malnutrition when the medical mobile clinic came into here, and they checked that I have malnutrition due to hunger and tiredness. Also, life is hard, so we cannot not afford fruit as apples or lemons or any food with vitamins and nutritional value.”
27. Med shot, Fatima’s medicine next to her on the mattress inside her shelter in Aden, Yemen.
28. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Dr. Rana Ali Ibrahim Al Sororri, Doctor at IDPs camps in Aden:
“One of the factors that helps the lack of undernutrition rates among adolescent, pregnant and lactating women is the continuous follow-up by health staff in camps or in IDP gathering centers.
This follow-up helps us to get a model for malnourished women, who are not aware that they are going through difficult stages. Because in pregnancy, the mother needs proper nutrition and an appropriate environment, so when we follow up on the case, we raise awareness and educate them as their level of awareness is deficient. Through follow-up, we discover malnourished women, and we count them and follow them periodically and give them micronutrients and vitamins during pregnancy, as well as nutritional and therapeutic substances that help reduce the rate of malnutrition among pregnant women.”
STORYLINE
The number of pregnant and breastfeeding adolescent girls and women suffering from acute malnutrition has soared from 5.5 million to 6.9 million – or 25 per cent – since 2020 in 12 countries hardest hit by the global food and nutrition crisis, according to a new report released by UNICEF today.
The 12 countries – including Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Chad, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Yemen – represent the epicentre of a global nutrition crisis that has been exacerbated by the war in Ukraine and ongoing drought, conflict, and instability in some countries.
Undernourished and Overlooked: A Global Nutrition Crisis in Adolescent Girls and Women – issued ahead of International Women’s Day – warns that the ongoing crises, aggravated by ongoing gender inequality, are deepening a nutrition crisis among adolescent girls and women that had already shown little improvement in the last two decades.
“The global hunger crisis is pushing millions of mothers and their children into hunger and severe malnutrition,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. “Without urgent action from the international community, the consequences could last for generations to come.”
According to the report – an unprecedented and comprehensive look at the state of adolescent girls’ and women’s nutrition globally – more than one billion adolescent girls and women suffer from undernutrition (including underweight and short height), deficiencies in essential micronutrients, and anaemia, with devastating consequences for their lives and wellbeing.
Inadequate nutrition during girls’ and women’s lives can lead to weakened immunity, poor cognitive development, and an increased risk of life-threatening complications – including during pregnancy and childbirth – with dangerous and irreversible consequences for their children’s survival, growth, learning, and future earning capacity.
Globally, 51 million children under 2 years suffer stunting, meaning they are too short for their age due to malnutrition. Of those, about half become stunted during pregnancy and the first six months of life, the 500-day period when a child is fully dependent on maternal nutrition, according to a new analysis in the report.
“To prevent undernutrition in children, we must also address malnutrition in adolescent girls and women,” Russell added.
South Asia and sub-Saharan African remain the epicentre of the nutrition crisis among adolescent girls and women, home to 2 in 3 adolescent girls and women suffering from underweight globally, and 3 in 5 adolescent girls and women with anaemia. Meanwhile, adolescent girls and women from the poorest households are twice as likely to suffer from underweight as those from the wealthiest households.
Global crises continue to disproportionately disrupt women’s access to nutritious food. In 2021, there were 126 million more food insecure women than men, compared to 49 million more in 2019, more than doubling the gender gap of food insecurity.
Since last year, UNICEF has scaled up its efforts in the countries hardest hit by the global nutrition crisis, including Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Haiti, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Yemen, with an acceleration plan to prevent, detect, and treat wasting in women and children.
The report calls for governments, development and humanitarian partners and donors, civil society organizations and development actors to transform food, health and social protection systems for adolescent girls and women by:
• Prioritising adolescent girls’ and women’s access to nutritious, safe and affordable diets, and protecting adolescent girls and women from ultra-processed foods through marketing restrictions, compulsory front-of-pack labelling and taxation.
• Implementing policies and mandatory legal measures to expand large-scale food fortification of routinely consumed foods such as flour, cooking oil and salt to help reduce micronutrient deficiencies and anemia in girls and women.
• Ensuring adolescent girls and women in low- and middle-income countries have free access to essential nutrition services, both before and during pregnancy, and while breastfeeding, including ante-natal multiple micronutrient supplements.
• Expanding access to social protection programmes for the most vulnerable adolescent girls and women, including cash transfers and vouchers to improve girls’ and women’s access to nutritious and diverse diets.
• Accelerating the elimination of discriminatory gender and social norms such as child marriage and the inequitable sharing of food, household resources, income and domestic work.
“When a girl or woman does not get adequate nutrition, gender inequality is perpetuated,” said Russell. “Learning and earning potential is lowered. The risk of life-threatening complications, including during pregnancy and childbirth increases, and the odds of giving birth to undernourished babies rise. We know what it takes to get life-saving nutrition support and services to the women and children who need it most. We just need to mobilize the political will and resources to act. There is no time to waste.”
The 12 countries – including Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Chad, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Yemen – represent the epicentre of a global nutrition crisis that has been exacerbated by the war in Ukraine and ongoing drought, conflict, and instability in some countries.
Undernourished and Overlooked: A Global Nutrition Crisis in Adolescent Girls and Women – issued ahead of International Women’s Day – warns that the ongoing crises, aggravated by ongoing gender inequality, are deepening a nutrition crisis among adolescent girls and women that had already shown little improvement in the last two decades.
“The global hunger crisis is pushing millions of mothers and their children into hunger and severe malnutrition,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. “Without urgent action from the international community, the consequences could last for generations to come.”
According to the report – an unprecedented and comprehensive look at the state of adolescent girls’ and women’s nutrition globally – more than one billion adolescent girls and women suffer from undernutrition (including underweight and short height), deficiencies in essential micronutrients, and anaemia, with devastating consequences for their lives and wellbeing.
Inadequate nutrition during girls’ and women’s lives can lead to weakened immunity, poor cognitive development, and an increased risk of life-threatening complications – including during pregnancy and childbirth – with dangerous and irreversible consequences for their children’s survival, growth, learning, and future earning capacity.
Globally, 51 million children under 2 years suffer stunting, meaning they are too short for their age due to malnutrition. Of those, about half become stunted during pregnancy and the first six months of life, the 500-day period when a child is fully dependent on maternal nutrition, according to a new analysis in the report.
“To prevent undernutrition in children, we must also address malnutrition in adolescent girls and women,” Russell added.
South Asia and sub-Saharan African remain the epicentre of the nutrition crisis among adolescent girls and women, home to 2 in 3 adolescent girls and women suffering from underweight globally, and 3 in 5 adolescent girls and women with anaemia. Meanwhile, adolescent girls and women from the poorest households are twice as likely to suffer from underweight as those from the wealthiest households.
Global crises continue to disproportionately disrupt women’s access to nutritious food. In 2021, there were 126 million more food insecure women than men, compared to 49 million more in 2019, more than doubling the gender gap of food insecurity.
Since last year, UNICEF has scaled up its efforts in the countries hardest hit by the global nutrition crisis, including Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Haiti, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Yemen, with an acceleration plan to prevent, detect, and treat wasting in women and children.
The report calls for governments, development and humanitarian partners and donors, civil society organizations and development actors to transform food, health and social protection systems for adolescent girls and women by:
• Prioritising adolescent girls’ and women’s access to nutritious, safe and affordable diets, and protecting adolescent girls and women from ultra-processed foods through marketing restrictions, compulsory front-of-pack labelling and taxation.
• Implementing policies and mandatory legal measures to expand large-scale food fortification of routinely consumed foods such as flour, cooking oil and salt to help reduce micronutrient deficiencies and anemia in girls and women.
• Ensuring adolescent girls and women in low- and middle-income countries have free access to essential nutrition services, both before and during pregnancy, and while breastfeeding, including ante-natal multiple micronutrient supplements.
• Expanding access to social protection programmes for the most vulnerable adolescent girls and women, including cash transfers and vouchers to improve girls’ and women’s access to nutritious and diverse diets.
• Accelerating the elimination of discriminatory gender and social norms such as child marriage and the inequitable sharing of food, household resources, income and domestic work.
“When a girl or woman does not get adequate nutrition, gender inequality is perpetuated,” said Russell. “Learning and earning potential is lowered. The risk of life-threatening complications, including during pregnancy and childbirth increases, and the odds of giving birth to undernourished babies rise. We know what it takes to get life-saving nutrition support and services to the women and children who need it most. We just need to mobilize the political will and resources to act. There is no time to waste.”
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