A Pair of 370 million children in the world They stopped receiving 40% of school lunches after classrooms were closed as part of measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus, reveals a new study of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) And the World Food Program (PMA), disclosed this Thursday.
For many of these children, the food they receive at school is their main or sole source of nutrition daily, alert the report.
The UNICEF executive director pointed out in this regard that despite clear evidence that schools they are not important centers of contagion of COVID-19, millions of children suffer the many consequences of its closures.
Prioritize the reopening of schools
“Children who depend on schools for their daily food are losing not only an education, but also a reliable source of nutrition. As we respond to the pandemic and await vaccine distribution, we must prioritize the reopening of schools and take steps to make them as safe as possible, such as having clean water and soap, "said Henrietta Fore.
According to the study, during the pandemic essential nutrition services reduced by 30%, including school feeding programs, micronutrient supplementation and nutrition promotion in low- and middle-income countries, as well as programs for the treatment of severe malnutrition in children. Furthermore, in some countries periods of confinement led to the cancellation of all school feeding programs.
David Beasley, WFP Executive Director, said that not having access to school lunches puts the future of millions of poor children in the world at risk. "We run the risk of losing a generation complete, ”he warned.
“We must support governments so that schools reopen safely and start feeding these children again. For many, the nutritious food they receive at school is the only meal they will receive all day, ”Beasley stressed.
In Colombia, take away rations are delivered for children who have been left without school meals due to the coronavirus
Risk of dropping out of school
The most recent calculations indicate that about 24 million children would drop out of school and adds that school feeding programs could encourage the most vulnerable children to return to school.
UN agencies reported that information on the general impact of school closures on nutrition is limited; however, they added that prior knowledge of the nutrition deficit among school-age children and adolescents in some countries are a cause for concern.
Pre-pandemic data from 68 countries showed that close to 50% of children aged 13-17 were hungry. In 17 countries, up to two-thirds of adolescents aged 15-19 were underweight, and more than half of adolescent girls in South Asia were anemic.
Food as an incentive
UNICEF and WFP asserted that school lunches are not only vital to ensure nutrition, growth and development of children, but also provide a strong incentive so that children, and especially girls and boys from the poorest and most marginalized communities, return to school once the restrictions are lifted.
The longer they are out of school, the greater the risk that they will drop out of education altogether. In addition, girls face the additional risk of having forced transactional sex or marrying early, warns the report.
In this context, apart from giving priority to the reopening of schools, the agencies urged governments to ensure that meet health, food and nutrition needs of children through comprehensive and high-quality school feeding programs.
The World Food Program helps governments to tailor their school lunch programs during closings. More than 70 countries have distributed food rations at home and made money transfers or food stamps. In the first nine months of 2020, more than 13 million children received WFP lunches, less than the 17,3 million benefited during the same period in 2019.
For its part, UNICEF supports national governments to do not interrupt nutrition services to children and adolescents of school age.