Childhood hunger is chronic, ongoing food insecurity that leads to undernutrition, stunting, weakened immunity and delayed cognitive development.
Hunger fuels generational poverty. Children who are undernourished struggle to learn, fall behind early and often remain trapped in the same cycle as adults.
There are many causes of childhood hunger, including poverty, conflict and environmental disasters.
What Is Childhood Hunger?
Childhood hunger means chronic food insecurity or going without food consistently. This type of hunger affects tens of millions of children throughout the world but especially impoverished children in low- and middle-income countries.
Childhood hunger causes children to become undernourished or malnourished, meaning they lack what they need to grow. This can stunt their physical growth, cause many health issues and even hinder cognitive development.
Child hunger also traps kids in a generational cycle of poverty. Hungry children can’t focus in their classrooms, and they struggle to learn life skills. This makes it hard for them to get quality educations and later jobs that would help them provide for their families as adults. So they often continue the cycle, raising their own kids in poverty.
Why Is Childhood Hunger a Problem?
Childhood hunger is a problem because:
Young children who experience food insecurity in their first years of life are more likely to lag in social, emotional and cognitive development. And once behind, hungry children tend to stay behind, even when food security is no longer an issue.
After decades of steady decline, hunger in the world is increasing again, damaging many lives.
37.7 million children live with acute malnutrition in 26 countries.
Nearly half of all deaths among children under 5 years of age are linked to undernutrition.
What Causes Childhood Hunger?
There are many causes of hunger that impact children around the globe, keeping them from accessing critical food resources.
Poverty
Poverty is a root cause of child hunger. When a family lives on less than $3.00 per day (which is the definition of poverty), they're unable to meet their basic needs.
Impoverished families with children must make hard decisions. For example, they must often decide whether feeding their children or keeping a roof over their heads is more important today.
War & Conflict
War and armed conflict lead to widespread hunger as well. Conflict destroys homes and infrastructure, displaces families, disrupts economies and affects food production and distribution. In short, it makes it harder to produce and find food, and it makes food more expensive.
Inflation
Anything that drives up food prices contributes to child hunger. Impoverished families who rely on cheaper, less nutritious food are deeply affected by economy slowdowns and supply chain disruptions. Each economic challenge only makes it harder for them to feed their children.
Environmental Conditions
Environmental conditions such as drought, famine and pests can devastate crops and make food scarce. For example, in 2020, locusts invaded East Africa, destroyed crops and threatened the food security of 24 million people.
What Are the Effects of Childhood Hunger?
Childhood hunger is devastating. According to recent data, around 8 million children under the age of 5 are at risk of death due to wasting (life-threatening malnutrition) or child starvation.
Child hunger also hinders a child's development. A young body that receives plenty of nutritious food can develop physically, socially and emotionally. However, a body without proper nutrition is stunted, unable to grow as intended.
In addition, without good nutrition, a child's immune system is compromised, putting them in danger of disease and complications from injuries.
Children 5 years of age and younger are especially vulnerable to the effects of child hunger, including:
Wasting, stunting and child starvation.
Greater susceptibility to infection.
Diabetes and other diet-related diseases, such as heart disease and cancer.
Impaired speech.
Damage to the brain and other organs.
How Compassion Fights Child Hunger
At Compassion, we're fighting back against child hunger. We partner with local churches in impoverished communities, providing medical care and nutrition support to millions of children living in poverty.
Our church partners are trained to recognize the signs of malnutrition and take immediate action. This often includes:
Ensuring children in need receive emergency access to food.
Providing vitamin supplements.
Working with children's caregivers to offer support and ensure meals at home meet nutritional needs.
Providing children in our child sponsorship program with regular nutritious meals and snacks.
Teaching children the importance of balanced diets and how to make healthy food choices.
How You Can Help Us Fight Childhood Hunger
We can't stop childhood hunger on our own. But with your help, we can provide children around the world with the nutrition they need to not only survive but thrive. By sponsoring a child, you can help us protect them from severe hunger that threatens their well-being.
