Toronto, November 29, 2024 – Around one in four children aged between six months and five years in Burundi will face acute malnutrition between now and May next year without urgent action, as rising food prices and a ravaging Mpox outbreak fuel a growing hunger crisis, Save the Children said [1].
Around 484,000 children are expected to suffer malnutrition in coming months, a figure that has more than doubled since 2022 – the last time such an assessment was made – according to new data from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC).
They include around 85,000 children who face severe acute malnutrition (SAM), the deadliest form of malnutrition, which compromises children’s immune systems and turn otherwise treatable illnesses, such as diarrhea, potentially lethal. This represents an alarming 44% increase in SAM cases since 2022 [2].
Burundi already has one of the worst rates of chronic undernutrition in the world, including the world’s highest child stunting rate at 54% of children under five according to the UN.
Since Burundi declared a state of emergency in response to the Mpox outbreak on 25 July, the fast-moving clade 1b strain of the virus has spread rapidly across the country, disproportionately affecting children. Children under five years account for almost three in ten of the 2,050 confirmed cases in Burundi [3] [4], with malnourished children in areas with poor sanitation and limited healthcare at an even greater risk of contracting and succumbing to the virus.
According to the IPC, Burundi’s growing Mpox crisis is likely to worsen the hunger situation in the country as families turn away from income-generating activities to care for unwell household members, while breastfeeding women with the virus often struggle to feed their infants due to the presence of lesions caused by the virus on their bodies, including on their breasts.
Maggie Korde, Save the Children’s Country Director for Rwanda and Burundi, said:
“Children in Burundi face multiple threats to their childhood including hunger, disease and collapsing healthcare, as food shortages, catastrophic climate disasters and now the world’s second biggest Mpox outbreak threaten to leave almost half a million children inadequately nourished.
“Malnutrition robs children of their futures. Urgent action is essential to combat this devastating and unacceptable trend of child hunger and malnutrition in Burundi. Save the Children is calling on governments to address malnutrition and food insecurity by tackling food shortages, stabilizing rising prices, and addressing the climate crisis by building resilience of communities and increasing awareness and early warning to allow people to prepare for climate disasters.” Save the Children has been working in Burundi since 2016 where we provide services in child protection, gender-based violence, and education. Save the Children is also working closely with the Ministry of Health and the Department of Emergency Response (COUSP) to strengthen the country’s health system and address the Mpox outbreak. Save the Children’s Emergency Health Unit has deployed additional specialists in clinical care, operations, and water and sanitation to work alongside Burundi’s Ministry of Health, ensuring resources and expertise are in place to contain the spread and protect at-risk communities, including young children.
ENDS
[1] IPC malnutrition figures cover the child population aged between 6 and 59 months. The 1 in 4 is calculated based on an estimated population of 1.7m children aged between 6 and 59 months in Burundi, following UN population estimates that put the population under five at 2.2 million and the population under one at just over 890,000.
[2] https://www.ipcinfo.org/ipc-country-analysis/details-map/en/c/1155868/?iso3=BDI
[4] https://worldhealthorg.shinyapps.io/mpx_global/
Media Contact
For additional information please contact Julie Marshall, Senior Manager, Media:
About Save the Children
Save the Children believes every child deserves a future. In Canada and around the world, we give children a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. We do whatever it takes for children – every day and in times of crisis – transforming their lives and the future we share.