Record-high price hikes and disruptions in the trade of food, fertilizer and fuel (see вЂPrice hikesвЂ™) threaten to further increase the global number of malnourished people, especially women and children, in three ways. Meanwhile, 240вЂ‰million women were underweight (with a body mass index of less than 18.5), and 468вЂ‰million had anaemia 6. Crisis in contextД®ven before the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2019, 144 million children under 5 years old were stunted (meaning their height was low for their age), and 47 million had acute malnutrition, known as wasting 5 (meaning their weight was low for their height). In the longer term, a global malnutrition crisis could lead to lifelong effects on education, diet-related chronic diseases and a decline in peopleвЂ™s capacity to thrive and contribute to their countriesвЂ™ economic growth.

Not doing so will mean immediate effects on child growth, development and immunity, and an increase in child deaths in the coming months. Governments of LMICs, donors and other funders must invest now to safeguard peopleвЂ™s access to nutritious foods. These include the distribution of cash or food, or food vouchers for households in need 1. UN agencies are also urging governments to continue to expand various social protection programmes offered during the COVID-19 pandemic. In mid-March, the FAO called on governments to avoid implementing restrictions that could hamper the global trade in food, fertilizer and fuel 1. This exceeds the returns on investment for other global health initiatives, including childhood vaccinations in the poorest countries - estimated in 2019 as saving $21 for every $1 spent 4. In fact, providing nutrition interventions in early life leads to extremely high estimated returns on investment - up to US$35 for every $1 spent 3. But left untreated, malnutrition can increase the risk of illness and death in the short term, and ultimately have multi-generational and irreversible effects. The impact of malnutrition might be less immediately visible than that of hunger. Lastly, these groups have already been disproportionally affected by the combined effects of other conflicts, climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic.Д«roken bread - avert global wheat crisis caused by invasion of Ukraine Furthermore, existing gender inequality and gender power imbalances - which can be exacerbated during crises - mean that women have less agency to direct resources towards feeding themselves and their children 2. They are especially vulnerable to malnutrition: childrenвЂ™s nutritional needs are high relative to their body size, and womenвЂ™s are high when pregnant or lactating.

Women and children are particularly affected by the food shortages and high food prices resulting from the war against Ukraine. There are already more than 800 million undernourished people globally 1.ДЄnother major concern is the possibility of severe price increases and disruptions to global systems for food, fertilizer and fuel, leading to millions more malnourished people in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, for instance, projected last month that between 8 million and 13 million more people could become undernourished in 2022вЂ“23 - meaning that they will be unable to acquire enough food to meet the daily minimum energy requirements over one year.

Credit: Essa Ahmed/AFP via GettyДЄs the devastation in Ukraine continues to unfold, many of the warnings about the global food crisis precipitated by the war have focused on the risks of famine and severe food insecurity. A malnourished child in Yemen waits with her mother for treatment at a humanitarian-aid centre.

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