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Every minute, 35 children are born into lives shaped by hunger from the very beginning. Worldwide, 35.5 million children under the age of five are suffering from acute malnutrition. Conflict, the climate crisis and cuts to international aid funding are deepening the hardship every day. Yet hunger can be treated, and children can recover if they receive help in time.
Behind these numbers are children whose childhood becomes a struggle for survival. After just a few days, appetite and energy fade. Children become tired and unable to play or learn. After a few weeks, the consequences become life-threatening: muscles waste away, organs begin to fail, and eyesight deteriorates.
Our work to combat hunger For more than a hundred years, Save the Children has been committed to ensuring that children can grow up healthy and safe. We support children and families affected by hunger and malnutrition around the world – both during acute crises and by providing long-term solutions.
I am a mother of four children myself. Knowing that children die from the effects of hunger even though help is possible is something I find impossible to ignore. Being a child should never mean going hungry.
![]( "Maria Steinbauer – Save the Children Schweiz")
After just one day without enough food, a child loses energy and struggles to concentrate; soon, the world begins to blur before their eyes.
After just a few weeks, the body begins to break itself down: the heart, liver and kidneys weaken, hair falls out and muscles waste away. Severe acute malnutrition is the most dangerous form. It leaves children so weak that even a common cold can be fatal. Yet children can recover if they receive help in time.
Save the Children works with local communities and partner organisations to identify and treat malnutrition as early as possible and prevent it in the long term:
Early detection Regular check-ups help us identify malnutrition in children as early as possible.
Life-saving treatment We provide malnourished children with medical care and therapeutic food.
Access to food We help families to gain access to food and essential goods.
Strong health services We strengthen local healthcare services.
Children all over the world suffer from severe hunger and malnutrition. This is unacceptable – especially when effective treatments exist and children can recover if they receive help in time.
