Children: Nutrition

(asked on 1st July 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the effect of the covid-19 pandemic on progress in tackling child (a) wasting and (b) stunting.


Answered by
Wendy Morton Portrait
Wendy Morton
This question was answered on 6th July 2020

We are deeply concerned about the indirect impacts COVID-19 could have on people’s nutrition, the implications for loss of life and for long term deficits to children’s growth and development. Early estimates suggested that every percentage point drop in global GDP could result in an additional 0.7 million stunted children.

Since the early stages of the pandemic, we have been closely engaged in detailed modelling being carried out by academic and operational partners. This modelling assesses the likely increases in child wasting and stunting as a result of disruptions to health and nutrition services and to people’s ability to access nutritious foods. These estimates are due to be published in the Lancet journal shortly and will represent an evidence-based and collective view from global experts of the impact the pandemic will have on nutrition.

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