Among four children under the age of five, one lives in severe food deprivation, warns Unicef.
This means that more than 180 million children risk negative impact on their development and growth.
Unicef recommends that small children eat food from five of the eight food groups – including meat and fish, eggs, fruit and vegetables, and nuts and seeds – daily.
However, 440 million children under the age of five, in around 100 developing countries, live in food deprivation. This means they do not have access to five different food groups every day.
Of these, 181 million live in severe food deprivation, which means they mostly have access to food from two of the different groups.
"Children who only eat food from two food groups a day, for example, rice and a little milk, suffer from up to 50% higher risk of severe malnutrition," says Unicef CEO Catherine Russell in a comment on the report.
In the report, Unicef notes that progress in the area has been small over the past decade, and is calling for better social services and more humanitarian aid for the most vulnerable children. The organization is also calling for a new perspective on ultra-processed junk food and sugary soda, which Unicef believes is aggressively marketed to parents and children around the world.
