Fighting Child Malnutrition During and After Humanitarian Emergencies

The physical and mental damage caused by malnutrition can be irreversible, especially in children. The United States is the largest donor of food assistance around the world. Today, on World Hunger Day, see how USAID and our partners are working to fight hunger every day and save lives.

A box of USAID-funded Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) in the UNICEF-supported health center in Tawakal IDP camp, Bosaso, Somalia provided lifesaving treatment to more than 220,000 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition. Photo credit: USAID

Globally, almost 33 million children have been forcibly displaced by conflict or natural disaster, according to UNICEF. With limited access to adequate, safe, and nutritious food, displaced children are especially vulnerable to malnutrition. Poor nutrition in early childhood can compromise cognitive and physical development — lasting consequences that jeopardize the health of future generations.

USAID has spent decades working with scientists, public health experts and partners to tailor our critical food assistance to meet the nutrition needs of affected people, especially those fully dependent on this assistance like the more than 26 million refugees around the world.

But we don’t stop there.

A Rakhine community volunteer measures a child’s Mid-Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC). MUAC is one way to measure the nutritional status of children. Photo credit: Htet Arkar Win / UNICEF Myanmar

While people are likely familiar with the emergency food assistance USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance and partners provide after disasters strike— like corn, lentils, and rice — that is only a small part of what we do. Fighting hunger is about more than just staple foods — it’s about ensuring children have the right food, when they need it most.

“The long term effects of malnutrition are devastating. I have seen whole communities where children can’t play, learn, or grow because of malnutrition, and sadly the preventable cycle continues into adulthood. The missed educational opportunities and long-term health issues that result from child malnutrition are felt for generations”

— Erin Boyd, Nutrition Advisor, USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance

USAID provides critical ready-to-use foods and nutritional supplements to make sure children, pregnant and nursing mothers, and other vulnerable populations get the essential nutrients, including vitamins and minerals, they need to stay healthy. We do this to fight wasting, stunting, and micronutrient deficiencies, which can lead to permanent health damage like childhood blindness, birth defects, or cognitive damage.

Take a look at some of the ways we provide emergency nutrition assistance and support communities recovering from crises.

USAID food assistance includes Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Foods like high energy biscuits, peanut-based paste, fortified cereals, and vitamin powders as well as education and training on nutrition and breastfeeding. Illustration by: Mardri Gaston-Williams, USAID/BHA

Specialized Nutritious Foods and Supplements

Our best weapons for fighting malnutrition, especially in children, come in tiny packages that pack a big nutritional punch. High-energy biscuits, therapeutic pastes, and fortified cereals are just a few of the high calorie, nutrient-dense fortified food products we use to prevent and treat acute malnutrition, micronutrient deficiency and stunting.

High energy biscuits and peanut-based paste are two forms of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF). Photo credits: USAID

The high energy biscuits, which resemble a small cookie, and peanut-based paste require no preparation or refrigeration and are appealing to children. Our vitamin and mineral powders are single-dose packets that can be sprinkled onto food to support the rapid growth and development needs of children.

Children consume USAID-funded Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) and high-energy biscuits in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa; the Tawakal IDP camp in Bosaso, Somalia; and in Tigray, Ethiopia. Photo credits: AFP, UNICEF

Breastfeeding and Child Feeding Support

For more than 50 years, USAID has promoted breastfeeding to ensure the short- and long-term well-being of mothers and children. That’s because breast milk provides all the nutrients infants up to 6 months of age need and protects them against illnesses like diarrhea and respiratory infections. Breastfeeding also helps to ensure that babies grow into healthier children with fewer instances of infection, type 1 and 2 diabetes, and allergies, among many other benefits.

“I gave birth to Maimuna in the hospital and have been exclusively breastfeeding her. ” — Aisha Jarakayanka, a mother in Nigeria attended an Action Against Hunger breastfeeding training. Photo credit: Action Against Hunger

Moms benefit from breastfeeding too. Nursing women have a lower risk of developing anemia and postpartum depression in the short-term and diabetes, heart disease, and certain types of cancer in the long-term.

“Having correct and adequate information and support on breastfeeding to enable women to achieve their breastfeeding goals, can be one of the most empowering and transformative experiences in a woman’s life. I feel extremely proud to be a part of an agency that provides resources to support an enabling environment for breastfeeding in all situations, including the humanitarian contexts.”

—Judy Canahuati, Nutrition Advisor, USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance

But breastfeeding can be hard. And while it might be a struggle for any mother, it can be extraordinarily challenging after disasters or during emergencies, where stress, trauma, and a lack of privacy can make breastfeeding even more difficult. Ensuring that children receive the right amount of safe and nutritious complementary foods is also challenging in emergencies.

USAID promotes recommended infant and young child feeding behaviors through one-on-one counseling and group sessions for caregivers, like the one pictured above in Nigeria. Key behaviors include (1) exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months with continued breastfeeding up to 2 years and (2) appropriate complementary feeding practices, which means working to support households to feed their children 6 months and older the right amount of age-appropriate, nutritious, and safe foods. Photo credits: International Medical Corps Nigeria

We create safe spaces to help moms continue breastfeeding and practice healthy complementary feeding during emergencies. Through our partners, USAID supports lactation centers, peer support groups that engage mothers and other family members, and counseling services around the world. These services provide spaces where mothers can receive one-on-one lactation support and caregivers can learn about and discuss barriers to breastfeeding and complementary feeding, which together help to ensure that children get the nutrition they need, even in times of crises.

In Colombia, USAID partner Save the Children runs this lactation center for mothers where they can receive health and nutrition support, and learn about infant feeding. Photo credit: Save the Children

Nutrition Counseling

USAID also supports communities recovering from crisis and funds efforts to build longer-term resilience within communities who experience recurrent humanitarian crises.

To encourage good nutrition habits, we work with partners and community health workers to promote nutrition messaging on topics like: what to feed children at each age, improving food handling, and teaching balanced meal planning using locally available resources.

Fatima, a Muslim female community volunteer, provides infant and young child feeding sessions. Photo credit: Photo Credit: Htet Arkar Win, UNICEF Myanmar

In Southwestern Uganda, where many Congolese and Rwandan refugees have resettled, USAID supports the Association of Volunteers in International Service (ASVI) to help refugee and Ugandan host-community households improve food security and economic empowerment. When Pamela’s two-year-old daughter Fortunate fell sick, an AVSI coach took her to a nutrition screening where they learned Fortunate was suffering from severe acute malnutrition.

The mother began receiving nutrition classes and cooking demonstrations from AVSI to address her baby’s nutritional needs. Now, Fortunate is healthier, and after 2 years of only being able to crawl, Fortunate can now walk, run and play.

Pamela, a Ugandan mother, learned how to prepare healthy meals to save her daughter Fortunate from malnutrition. Photo credits: AVSI

USAID provides life-saving nutrition services to the world’s most vulnerable people during crises, but the benefits to mothers and children can last a lifetime and beyond. Improving the health and well-being of mothers and young children not only helps them now, it can also help the next generation prosper and thrive.

In South Sudan, USAID partner UNICEF provides Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) to a severely malnourished child. Photo credit: UNICEF South Sudan

Get more information on USAID’s Nutrition Programs.

Follow USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for updates.