The World Food Program has warned that the global food crisis has pushed 23 million people under the age of 18 - in 82 countries - into a state of acute food insecurity since the beginning of the year, bringing the total number of children affected to 153 million, which represents nearly Half of the 345 million people facing acute hunger.
The program indicated - in a report today, Friday in Geneva - that school-age children are bearing the brunt of the current crisis, with serious consequences for their education and their ability to make up for what they lost during the school closures due to the Corona epidemic.

The report said that escalating hunger among school-aged children now poses a real and present risk to recovery in the education sector, and the Food Program called for an ambitious action plan to restore school meal programs, which have been disrupted by the epidemic, and expand their reach to an additional 73 million children.

He explained that the detailed cost estimates for the plan show that about $5.8 billion is needed annually; The plan will complement broader measures to combat child hunger, including expanding child and maternal health programmes, support for out-of-school children, and increased investment in safety nets.

The World Food Program has warned that hunger levels among the 250 million out-of-school children are certainly higher than they are in schools.

The report emphasized that school meal programs are among the largest and most effective social safety nets for school-age children; It is not just about keeping children, especially girls, in school; But it also helps improve learning outcomes, by providing better food systems, supporting local economies, creating jobs and livelihoods in communities, and helping to break the links between hunger, an unsustainable food system and the learning crisis.

The Middle East News Agency