Wasting is a life-threatening form of malnutrition, which makes children too thin and weak, and puts them at greater risk of dying, poor growth, development and learning. In response to the report, UNICEF warned that an additional 10,000 child deaths per month this year could result from this increase in malnutrition.

All forms of malnutrition—as well as food insecurity and extreme poverty—are expected to increase significantly due to the pandemic, greatly affecting people who are already struggling.

“The number of people in low-income or middle-income countries (LMICs) facing acute food insecurity will nearly double to 265 million by the end of 2020,” said the report based on data from the United Nations World Food Program.

Leaders of UNICEF, the United Nations World Food Program, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Health Organization prepared the report on behalf of the Standing Together for Nutrition consortium. They also called for action to protect child nutrition around the world.

Salesian Missions funds COVID-19 related nutrition and prevention projects

In Rukago, Burundi, Salesian Missions funded food support and hand-washing stations.

Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco, joins these humanitarian organizations in the fight against severe hunger and malnutrition. Salesian Missions recently announced the funding of nutrition and prevention projects in Burundi, India, Peru, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Togo and Uruguay.

“We have funded projects in seven countries to date that address nutritional support, sanitary and hygiene, and educational materials for prevention. These activities help respond to the local need and help families who have been pushed even further into poverty,” said Father Gus Baek, director of Salesian Missions.

Salesian missionaries around the globe who live and work in the communities they serve are also mobilizing with new projects. The efforts of the “Save and Sustain” Don Bosco Network India-COVID-19 relief program has helped prevent the starvation of nearly 1.4 million vulnerable people.

At-risk and street children rely on Salesian receptions worldwide to find food, safety and shelter. In Nairobi, Kenya, The Don Bosco Boys Town Community distributed basic food items to suffering children and families.

Through emergency funding from Salesian Missions, the Salesians of Don Bosco at Don Bosco Gumbo-Juba, South Sudan, are able to provide daily meals for internally displaced children, food rations for highly vulnerable people and hand-washing facilities at the camp.

Partnerships provide ongoing food relief

Food aid partnerships and programs to feed students—reducing child malnutrition while increasing school attendance—are an ongoing focus of Salesian Mission programs.

Salesian Missions launched its “Hunger for Education” project in Haiti, which was funded by USAID.

The Hunger for Education project in Haiti, funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) from September 2016 to March 2019, implemented school feeding programs in Salesian centers across the country. The project provided lunch five days a week for 12,746 students at six school centers from January 2017 to Oct. 31, 2017, 15,541 students from November 2017 to September 2018, and 18,161 students from November 2017 through the end of the project on March 31, 2019.

The project helped support the shipment of 40 40-foot shipping containers of meals—16 from Breedlove, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping eradicate world hunger; 17 from Rise Against Hunger, an international relief organization that provides food and life-changing aid to the world’s most vulnerable; and seven from Feed My Starving Children, a nonprofit Christian organization committed to “feeding God’s children hungry in body and spirit.”

Salesian Missions also has ongoing partnerships with Rise Against Hunger and Feed My Starving children to provide rice-meals to poor students, youth in vocational centers, former street youth in Salesian reception centers and other marginalized youth.

For example, in Zambia, more than 2,900 people, including youth, families, grandmothers and orphaned children, received better nutrition thanks to a partnership between Salesian Missions and Feed My Starving Children. Three shipments of 40-foot containers of rice-meals were delivered in 2019 to the City of Hope in Lusaka, Zambia.

For some students, the meals they receive at the City of Hope centers are the only meals they have each day. Provided to students during the school day, the food aid serves as an incentive for families to send their children to school. As a result of the donation, students are thriving. Many have gained weight, suffer fewer illnesses and are more focused on their studies.

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Sources:

Photo courtesy of Salesian Missions (contact for usage permissions)

The Lancet: Impacts of COVID-19 on childhood malnutrition and nutrition-related mortality

UNICEF

Salesian Missions

Breedlove

Feed My Starving Children

Rise Against Hunger

*Any goods, services, or funds provided by Salesian Missions to programs located in these countries were administered in compliance with applicable laws and regulations, including sanctions administered by the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control.

The post GLOBAL: More children at risk of life-threatening malnutrition due to COVID-19, says new global report first appeared on MissionNewswire.

HAITI

(MissionNewswire) Ten years after the devastating Jan. 12, 2010 earthquake struck Haiti, the country continues to face challenges and serious issues with hunger and undernutrition. Three-quarters of the population lives on less than $2 a day and faces the highest levels of severe food insecurity in the world, according to the World Food Programme. More than half of the country’s population of 10.7 million people is undernourished. Nearly 100,000 Haitian children under the age of 5 suffer from acute malnutrition, causing irreversible stunted growth for close to 30 percent of all children in the country.

To ensure youth in six Salesian centers have access to better nutrition, Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco, launched its Hunger for Education project, which was funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) from September 2016 to March 2019. The project aimed to increase the health and learning capacity of students by implementing school feeding programs in Salesian centers within the country.

Overall the project provided lunch five days a week for 12,746 students at six school centers from January 2017 to Oct. 31, 2017, 15,541 students from November 2017 to September 2018, and 18,161 students from November 2017 through the end of the project on March 31, 2019.

The project helped support the shipment of 40 40-foot shipping containers of meals—16 from Breedlove, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping eradicate world hunger; 17 from Rise Against Hunger, an international relief organization that provides food and life-changing aid to the world’s most vulnerable; and seven from Feed My Starving Children, a nonprofit Christian organization committed to “feeding God’s children hungry in body and spirit.”

The donation was shared among Salesian centers in the cities of Port-au-Prince, Fort-Liberté, Cap-Haïtien, Les Cayes, Gressier and Gonaïves. The feeding programs also covered two months of summer programming at Les Cayes, Gressier, Fort-Liberté, Cap-Haïtien, Gonaives, Thorland, Petionville, Drouillard and the Salesian post-novitiate.

The Hunger for Education project has also helped to ensure each of the six Salesian centers had kitchens equipped to cook the rice-meals while training 15 school cooks to prepare the nutritious meals for students. Prior to this project, the Cardinal Keeler Center in Gonaïves had no kitchen at all. With funding through the project, the center was able to develop a new kitchen from the ground up, including cooking supplies.

“The new kitchen and feeding program have been well received by students from all disciplines within the school,” said Father Yves Jorcelim Pierre, director of the Cardinal Keeler Center. “This new kitchen has also provided access for teachers, support staff, cooks and managers to eat there as well. The feeding program and donation of food aid have been a great blessing to our center. Children are now assured a hot meal each day. Prior, many were coming to school on an empty stomach and knowing they had no food to go home to in the evening. Children are much more focused on their studies now.”

Salesian vocational training students who received meals from the Hunger for Education project expressed high levels of gratitude for having food to fuel their practical exercises. In Fort-Liberté, agricultural students work in the school’s fields from 8:00-11:00 a.m. every day, and they count on having food available when they are finished with their morning projects.

In Cité Soleil and Les Cayes, Salesian students work hard in vocational training workshops to learn skills in carpentry, welding, auto-mechanics, electricity, sewing and beauty. They rely on the meals to keep them going through practical training workshops as well as classroom learning. Before the feeding program began, administrators noted instances of vocational training students fainting during their practical exercises due to a lack of food. Now students have energy not only to make it through the day but also to stay after school to participate in soccer or other programs.

Each of the six participating school directors noted that the feeding program improved student academic performance and enhanced the learning environment. Students who previously were sleepy in the afternoon after recreation time had more energy to continue in their studies after meals were implemented during the school day. School directors also noted that report cards have improved and that their students study much better when they have proper nutrition.

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Sources:

Photo courtesy of Salesian Missions (contact for usage permissions)

Breedlove

Feed My Starving Children

HAITI: USAID-funded Hunger for Education project feeds 18,161 students at six Salesian centers

Rise Against Hunger

Salesian Missions – Haiti

World Food Programme – Haiti

The post HAITI: USAID-funded ‘Hunger for Education’ provided nutritious meals to thousands of school children first appeared on MissionNewswire.