Health

In the last 30 years, the number of child and maternal deaths worldwide has decreased by 59 per cent. Despite this progress, 4.9 million girls and boys died before their fifth birthday in 2022.

Approximately 1.9 million babies are stillborn, and among those who are born alive, 6,400 babies under four weeks old die every day. This means that each year 2.3 million children don’t make it past their first month of life—that’s more than all the children in Canada under five years old.

Poor nutrition is often the source of these preventable deaths, deeply impacting children at every stage of their development. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), malnutrition contributes to an estimated 45 per cent of child deaths worldwide. Among those who survive, an estimated 148.1 million young children in lower- and middle-income countries remain chronically malnourished. This is known as “stunting,” a condition that restricts physical growth and brain development.

Stunting that persists beyond the first 1,000 days of life—the critical window when good health, nutrition and nurturing care are foundational for children’s development—has life-long effects on children’s health, future learning and abilities to achieve their potential. Stunting is intergenerational, especially when the health and nutrition of adolescent girls and women are undermined.

A staggering 45 million young children also suffer from wasting due to malnutrition with low weight for their height. This often results from an insufficient quantity and quality of food, or infections that cause weight loss. The 13.6 million young children with the most severe cases of wasting are 11 times more likely to die.

Stunting and wasting are not the only threats to children’s good nutrition. Even before the pandemic, two out of five children suffered from anemia in lower- and middle-income countries, making them vulnerable to infections and inhibiting their ability to learn. The situation is even more dire for girls and boys in Africa, where three out of five are affected by anemia. There has been negligible improvement since 2010.

The global food system has been further strained because of the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, who are top producers of wheat, fertilizer and fuel. This has put nutritious diets even more out of reach for marginalized populations. Mid-2022 estimates hinted that the cost of life-saving therapeutic food to treat severely wasted children would increase by 16 per cent due to rising ingredient costs. Despite the concerted efforts of UNICEF and the suppliers of ready-to-use-therapeutic food (RUTF) to limit the rising costs, the weighted average price of RUTF still rose by nine per cent.

For children who survive into adolescence, 0.9 million (0.4 million females and 0.5 million males) aged 10 to 19 lost their lives in 2022 alone, with sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia bearing the bulk of this burden.

Every day, close to 800 women—the vast majority of these in developing countries—die from severe
bleeding, infections and high blood pressure related to pregnancy and childbirth, with higher risks of
complications among adolescent mothers than adult women.

Lack of proper nutrition can lead to iron deficiency anemia, which affects nearly a third of girls and women of reproductive age, robbing them of the energy needed to pursue higher education, livelihood opportunities and full, productive lives. The WHO estimates 40 per cent of maternal deaths are linked to anemia.

More than 160 million women and girls of reproductive age would like to delay or prevent pregnancy, but cannot access contraception because of limited availability or social and cultural barriers that prevent them from making their own choices on the matter. Despite some degree of recovery among health systems in low- and middle-income countries after the COVID-19 pandemic, a WHO survey completed in early 2023 found disruptions to family planning and contraceptive services showed very little improvement.

It is also important to note that mental health challenges currently contribute to 14 per cent of the global burden of disease worldwide. Of that amount, 81 per cent is hitting families in low- and middle-income countries where access to mental health and psychosocial support services are limited or non-existent. The prevalence of anxiety and depression increased by 25 per cent globally since the start of the pandemic, with younger people and females reported to be at a higher risk.

Nearly a quarter of the world’s population, or approximately 1.9 billion people, live in fragile contexts and countries experiencing conflict, making access to healthcare and proper nutrition more challenging for the already at-risk population. An estimated 110 million people were displaced by mid-2023 due to
conflict, violence and persecution. By 2030, two-thirds of the world’s extreme poor will live in fragile
contexts, and the majority of them will be children.

Children, youth and women are uniquely and disproportionately affected by conflict and fragility, whether through gender-based violence, inadequate nutrition, broken state-societal relations or insurmountable barriers to accessing basic quality health services. These conditions represent a disproportionate share of the global disease burden and account for:

  • More than 70 per cent of epidemic-prone disease cases, such as cholera, measles and meningitis.
  • 60 per cent of maternal deaths.
  • 53 per cent of deaths in children under five.
  • 45 per cent of infant deaths worldwide.

Urgent action is needed to save lives and address immediate nutritional, physical and mental health
needs. Now more than ever, the world’s health systems must be strengthened to reach communities in
ways that are effective and resilient, while addressing the factors that drive fragility itself.