Moderate child food poverty exists in Guyana – UNICEF

..Govt budgeted $4.9B for school feeding programme in 2024

A 2024 Child Nutrition Report released recently by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has detected levels of severe and moderate child food poverty in Guyana.
Released over the weekend, the report titled ‘Child Food Poverty: Nutrition deprivation in early childhood’ examines the status, trends, inequities and drivers of child food poverty in early childhood across the globe.
It features country-level estimates of the percentage of children living in severe food poverty in 92 countries with a recent national survey between 2016 and 2022 on less than 50 per cent of the population in each nation. The prevalence of severe child food poverty in each country is classified as ‘high’ – more than 30 per cent; ‘medium’ – below 10 to less than 30 and ‘low’ – 10 per cent and below.
UNICEF defines child food poverty as children’s inability to access and consume a nutritious and diverse diet in early childhood. It said children living in severe child food poverty are missing out on many nutrient-rich foods, while unhealthy foods are becoming entrenched in the diets of these children.
Globally, one in four children are living in severe child food poverty in early childhood, amounting to 181 million children under five years of age, the report states.
According to UNICEF, children who receives 0–2 food groups per day are living in severe child food poverty; 3–4 food groups per day are living in moderate child food poverty, and 5 or more food groups per day are not living in child food poverty.
In Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region, there is a 38 per cent of total child food poverty prevalence. The report states that the LAC region has the lowest percentage of children living in severe child food poverty with country estimates ranging from as low as three per cent in Costa Rica to 32 per cent in Haiti.

With regards to Guyana in terms of global ranking, the country was placed in the medium category for severe child food poverty with 20 per cent alongside Bangladesh.
According to the report, data from the 2016 to 2022 surveyed period shows that 20 per cent of Guyanese children are living in severe child food poverty receiving only two food groups per day and 40 per cent in moderate child food poverty, receiving three to four food groups per day.
A further breakdown of the data in the report revealed that when it comes to diet content of children living in severe child food poverty, less than 20 per cent of children are breastfeed only, just under 40 per cent have dairy only or with breastmilk, nearly 70 per cent are given starchy staple only or with breastmilk/dairy, and more than 90 per cent of children get other foods like eggs, flesh foods, fruits and vegetables, pulses, nuts and seeds.
Based on these figures, the report highlighted that there was a significant increase over the past decade of the percentage of children living in severe child food poverty in Guyana, moving from just over 10 per cent in 2012 to the 20 per cent in 2022
According to UNICEF, growing inequities, conflict, and climate crises, combined with rising food prices, the overabundance of unhealthy foods, harmful food marketing strategies and poor child feeding practices, are condemning millions of children around the world to child food poverty.
“Child food poverty harms all children, but it is particularly damaging in early childhood when insufficient dietary intake of essential nutrients can cause the greatest harm to child survival, physical growth, and cognitive development, trapping children and their families in a cycle of poverty and deprivation,” it noted.
However, the report states that while progress towards ending severe child food poverty is slow, some regions and countries are proving that progress is possible and is happening.
It added that severe child food poverty is experienced by children belonging to poor and non-poor households thus indicating that household income is not the only driver of severe child food poverty.
According to the UNICEF report, this scale of severe child food poverty the slow progress over the past decade, and the impacts of severe child food poverty on child survival, growth and development demand a step change in commitment, actions and accountability. To address child malnutrition governments and partners must invest in actions to improve children’s access to diverse and nutritious diets and end severe child food poverty.
Guyana’s school feeding program
In Guyana, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic Government has introduced a number of initiatives to ensure the country’s children are properly feed. The Ministry of Education’s National School Feeding Programme is targeting some 126,000 students in 2024 for which some $4.9 billion was budgeted. Last year, some 85,000 school children benefitted from this initaitive.
This school Feeding programme targets all nursery schools and all primary Schools in Grades 1 and 2. It is implemented in Regions One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, 10 and in Georgetown, where children are given locally made biscuits and juices. Regions Seven, Eight and Nine are targeted separately.
Under this initiative, the National Breakfast Programme was also launched in 2022, providing a daily meal to Grade Six students along the coastal regions: Two, Three, Four, Five, Six and 10.
These programmes are in addition to the Education Ministry’s Hot Meal Programme which serves meals to primary and primary top students in Regions One (Barima-Waini); Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), Three (Essequibo Islands -West Demerara), Five (Mahaica-Berbice), Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni), Eight (Potaro-Siparuni), Nine, and 10. (G8)