We’ve warned G20 leaders that an extra 10 million children are now malnourished because of world food price rises.
Monday 30 March 2009
And an additional 400,000 children could die by the end of the year as a result of the global financial collapse.
Millions of children could go hungry due to the impact of the credit crunch on developing countries, combined with continuing high food prices that mean the world’s poorest families cannot feed their children properly.
Around 3.5 million children die every year because of malnutrition. The economic global downturn could kill another 2.8 million more children before 2015, the target set by many of the G20 leaders to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger around the world.
Adrian Lovett, Save the Children’s Director of Campaigns, said: "The failures in the banking system have been exported across the world, but the biggest impact is on children in the poorest countries.
"More malnutrition means more needless child deaths and more children growing up with damaged brains and bodies. The impact of food prices has already set back the limited progress that has been made to tackle child malnutrition, and the financial crisis means even more children will go hungry.
"Leaders of the richest countries must look beyond their own backyard and understand that the crisis that they have helped create will not only damage livelihoods at home, it will destroy lives in the rest of the world."
Mr Lovett said that a global economic recovery plan will not succeed if the needs of developing and low income countries are not addressed.
In stark contrast, Save the Children research has demonstrated that every 5% reduction in a country’s child mortality rate leads to a 1% increase in that country’s GDP.
"Saving a child’s life should be an end in itself," said Adrian Lovett. "But there is a powerful, recession-busting investment case to be made in spending our money on poor and hungry children.
If G20 leaders put children's lives at the heart of their decisions in London, they will be doing the right thing - and doing themselves a favour."
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