UNICEF, WFP and WHO join forces in global efforts to improve nutrition for children and women in humanitarian crises

NEW YORK, December 3, 2024 – Malnutrition remains a critical threat to millions of children and women in crisis-affected areas worldwide. In humanitarian contexts, where food insecurity and malnutrition are rampant, the risk of wasting in childhood is particularly high, leading to increased child mortality and often irreversible growth and development consequences.

To address this urgent issue, UNICEF, WFP and WHO are leveraging their unique mandates and expertise to launch a joint effort for research and action to support the prevention, detection and management of child wasting in humanitarian contexts. This work will guide national governments in implementing scalable approaches to prevent wasting and make a substantial impact on the lives of millions of children and women in crisis-affected areas.

Building on the existing collaboration for the Global Action Plan on Child Wasting, the partnership operates through three key strategic areas: supporting governments in implementing national roadmaps to reduce the prevalence of child wasting by 2030; generating evidence and learning for scaling up context-adapted, nationally-led approaches to prevent child wasting in food insecure settings; and supporting governments to integrate the 2023 WHO Guidelines into national policies, with a particular focus on implementing innovative programming for emergency response. The partnership includes the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) as the global research partner.

This initiative complements a wider UNICEF and WFP joint approach to scale up comprehensive and coordinated programming to prevent, detect and manage child wasting across 15 countries in humanitarian contexts with a high burden between 2024-2026.

These combined efforts aim to reach millions of vulnerable children and women through coordinated actions for the early prevention, detection and treatment of child wasting, emphasizing the need for both immediate interventions and sustainable, long-term solutions in humanitarian settings.

"This partnership represents a step forward in our global efforts to reduce child malnutrition and related mortality in humanitarian settings," said Dr. Victor Aguayo, Global Director of Child Nutrition and Development at UNICEF. "Through this concerted action across three UN agencies, we will protect more vulnerable children and women from the devastating impacts of malnutrition in humanitarian crises.” 

“As a community, we recognize the urgent need to prioritize the prevention of malnutrition,” said Abigail Perry, Director of Nutrition at the World Food Programme. “This funding helps build the evidence-base to enable us to take decisive action to protect women and young children – particularly in fragile contexts - from the devastating impacts of malnutrition. It also offers a crucial opportunity for our three agencies to collaborate effectively and achieve lasting improvements in nutrition outcomes.” 

“Partnerships like this are essential to increase efforts to prevent all forms of malnutrition to achieve the SDG targets on wasting and undernutrition,” said Dr. Francesco Branca, Director Department of Nutrition for Health and Development at WHO. “They help develop and scale up improved solutions addressing the fundamental drivers of malnutrition and to ensure a multi-sectoral approach with renewed efforts to link all relevant sectors such as health, WASH, agriculture and social protection.”

“IFPRI is pleased to work with our partners at UNICEF, WFP and WHO on this hugely important collaborative initiative to build evidence and program experience on how to address still unacceptably high levels of child wasting” said Dr. Purnima Menon, senior director of Food and Nutrition Policy at IFPRI.

‘The UK Prime Minister, Keir Starmer affirmed the UK’s commitment to tackling hunger, poverty and child wasting, recently announcing the new partnership with UNICEF, WHO and WFP at the G20 Leaders’ Summit’.

"USAID's partnership with UNICEF and WFP is integral to our support to prevent and treat child wasting in humanitarian crises, and we applaud the proactive, joint effort to align and scale up programming for these vulnerable children,” said Danielle Mutone-Smith, Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator for Humanitarian Assistance at USAID.

“Ireland is proud to work with its trusted partners, UNICEF and WHO in preventing and addressing child wasting as part of our collective efforts to achieve the global nutrition targets. These partnerships are especially important now, given the increasing humanitarian crises globally” said Mr. Michael Gaffey, Director General, Irish Aid.

The partnership is supported by combined funding of GBP 14 million (US$18 million) from FCDO and €36 million from Irish Aid from 2023 - 2027. The UNICEF and WFP joint approach across 15 countries is supported thus far with US$200 million from BHA for the first year of the 2024 – 2026 period. 

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