Nutrition
We work to ensure all children, adolescent girls and women in South Asia can get the nutritious foods, services and healthy food environments they need to survive and thrive.
Challenge
Good nutrition is the foundation children need to be able grow into healthy, happy, productive teenagers and adults.
Yet for millions of children and young people in South Asia, getting the nutrition they need to grow, learn and even survive is near impossible.
Over the last few years, the region has been hit by crisis after crisis. Climate disasters, economic shocks, COVID-19 and conflict have sent food and fuel prices soaring. These crises have also caused bottlenecks across key nutrition systems — food, health, and social protection — impacting the availability of nutritious food and the services families rely on.
Millions of the region’s most vulnerable young mothers and children are experiencing the impacts through the food on their plates. And paying the price with their lives.
64 million children in South Asia are suffering from severe food poverty. Their diets do not include the bare minimum of food groups they need to grow in their early years.
When young children miss out on the nutrients they need to develop, the impacts last their lifetime. Chronic malnutrition leads to stunting, where children don’t grow tall enough for their age. This causes irreversible physical damage to their bodies and brains, impacting children’s ability to learn in school and earn as an adult.
1 in 3 children in South Asia have stunted growth
Another form of malnutrition is wasting, where children become life-threateningly thin. When a child is wasted, their development stalls, their immune systems weaken, and they become vulnerable to deadly diseases.
1 in 7 children in South Asia are wasted
(That’s 25 million children who are wasted and 7.7 million who are severely wasted.)
Another form of malnutrition is deficiencies of essential vitamins and minerals, which leads to anaemia and micronutrient deficiencies.
The final form of malnutrition is obesity. This is Iinked to the quantity and quality of food children are getting. As families’ incomes have been hit, many have increasingly turned to cheaper, pre-packaged and highly processed foods. These foods do not contain the nutrients children need and can lead to obesity.
Rates of obesity have recently soared in South Asia, especially amongst women and children. In South Asia, 4 million children under the age of 5, 14 million adolescent girls and 200 million young women are overweight.
The nutrition crisis in South Asia is deeply connected to gender inequality. Malnutrition starts in the womb and is passed down through the generations.
Gender norms mean women often eat least and last, especially when families are faced with mounting financial pressures and food scarcity. The most disadvantaged girls and women are the most overlooked and malnourished.
1 in 2 women in South Asia are anaemic — and if you’re less educated, live in a rural area, or come from a poorer household it’s more likely to be you.
When a mother is malnourished during pregnancy, she’s more likely to give birth to a child suffering from stunting or wasting.
We see this cycle playing out in the number of children in South Asia starting their first days dangerously small, in need of extra care and with a higher risk of dying.
1 in every 4 infants in South Asia are born with a birth weight less than 2.5 kg.
One of the best ways to protect newborns against diseases and nourish them with essential nutrients is to breastfeed them from birth. Yet only 2 in every 5 children born in South Asia are breastfed in their first hour of life — increasing their risk of dying in their first 4 weeks.
All this means that to tackle early childhood nutrition in South Asia, it’s essential to support adolescent girls and women as well.
Opportunity
Over the past two decades, South Asia has made significant progress in preventing malnutrition in children. Between 2000 and 2019, the number of stunted children declined by one third. Meaning, 33 million less children suffered stunting in 2020 than in 2000.
But much more needs to be done to ensure every child gets the nutritious food they need to survive and thrive.
This starts with investments in childhood nutrition and supporting women to access essential nutrition services and social protection, both before and during pregnancy, and when breastfeeding.
Working together across key systems – food, health, water and sanitation, education, and social protection – we can address and prevent the underlying causes of malnutrition, break the intergenerational cycle of malnutrition and help every child, adolescent and woman in South Asia get the nutrition that they need.
What UNICEF is doing
UNICEF works with governments, academia and partners to strengthen national leadership on nutrition and improve policies, strategies and plans to deliver nutritious foods, essential nutrition services and positive nutrition practices for children, adolescents and women, especially the most vulnerable.
We are committed to upholding every child’s right to nutrition and ending child malnutrition in all its forms.
Improving childhood nutrition in the early years
Our primary focus is to improve nutrition in early childhood – the most vital period for growth and brain development.
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We advocate for (and support) initiatives that promote breastfeeding for babies from the moment they’re born.
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We promote (and support) initiatives to ensure young children get the nutritious complementary foods, services and nurturing care they need at the right ages.
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We promote (and support) initiatives that provide micronutrient supplements to young children who are not getting the nutrients they need.
Treating children with wasting
When children become severely wasted they are at serious risk of dying and need urgent care and treatment. In most cases, they can be treated with ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) – an energy-dense, micronutrient paste made of peanuts, sugar, milk powder, oil, vitamins and minerals.
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We work with governments to help them better detect and treat children who are severely wasted, to help them recover and save lives.
Preventing malnutrition in middle childhood and adolescence
Discriminatory norms and practices limit access to nutritious diets, essential nutrition services and nutrition care for adolescent girls in several parts of South Asia. When a girl does not get adequate nutrition, the cycle of pre-existing gender inequalities is perpetuated and poor nutrition is passed down through generations.
Preventing all forms of malnutrition in children and adolescents is just as crucial as the early years.
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We support governments and partners to develop policies, strategies and programmes that promote nutritious, safe, affordable, sustainable and fortified diets, for children and adolescents.
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We provide micronutrient supplements and deworming treatments for children and adolescents who are not getting the nutrients they need.
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We improve food environment in schools, including providing micronutrient supplements, making sure students are getting nutritious foods, and supporting legal measures that prevent the sale of unhealthy foods in and near schools. We also support children and adolescents to learn about good nutrition in school, including eating healthy and staying active.
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We support social protection programmes that provide cash transfers and vouchers for nutritious food for the most vulnerable adolescent girls and women.
Supporting women’s nutrition: before, during and after pregnancy
Women’s nutrition is critical, not only for their health and well-being, but for their child’s survival, growth and development.
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We advocate for (and support) policies and programmes that tackle gender issues and improve women’s nutritional health before and during pregnancy, and while breastfeeding. This includes initiatives that support healthy eating, micronutrient supplements, deworming, nutritional status monitoring and promoting physical activity and rest.
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We continue to support government legislation for mandatory food fortification, which remains one of most cost-effective ways to improve vitamin and mineral intake.
Prioritizing children, adolescents and women’s nutrition in emergencies
When a crisis hits, many families struggle to find safe food and clean water and are often cut off from basic health and nutrition services – a deadly recipe for malnutrition.
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We unite partners and provide technical support for countries in emergencies preparedness and to make sure nutrition for children and women is prioritized in emergency response and recovery efforts.
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We support countries in programme monitoring and collecting national data on malnutrition that can help them make critical decisions before, during and after a crisis.
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When disaster strikes, we support our teams on the ground to deliver emergency nutrition to the children and families who need it most.
Nutrition governance for improved nutrition in South Asia
UNICEF brings together strategic partners from across the region to improve maternal and child nutrition.
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We build and strengthen nutrition financing, accountability, and institutional mechanisms together with partners and governments to deliver better nutrition for children and women in South Asia.
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We strengthen government information systems to collect and use this evidence to drive better policies, programmes and legislations that support good nutrition for all children, adolescents and women.
Resources
These resources represent a selection of materials produced by UNICEF and its partners in the region. The list is regularly updated to include the latest information.
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Last update: March 2023