‘We must now prevent the pandemic from further undermining children’s nutrition’ (Mondiale Nieuws)

‘Mondiale Nieuws published an op-ed stating that there is no doubt that the devastation that COVID-19 indirectly wreaks will be great. Senior research fellow Jef Leroy writes that acute malnutrition is a life-threatening condition that makes children 3 to 12 times more likely to die than healthy-weight children. Essential health and nutrition services for mothers and children must continue to run, as childhood malnutrition has irreversible consequences. In the joint IFPRI study, Can Children Catch up from the Consequences of Undernourishment? Evidence from Child linear growth, developmental epigenetics, and brain and neurocognitive development, the authors showed that malnutrition at a young age leads to negative consequences that are not only extremely serious but also irreversible. A diet that does not contain all the necessary nutrients has serious lifelong consequences, such as delays in neurocognitive development, a lower level of education, and later a low-paid job; other consequences are an increased risk of chronic illness and premature death.