The global food crisis has severely malnourished more than 260,000 children since the beginning of this year, translating into "one child every minute," UNICEF revealed today..

The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) points to the "war in Ukraine and climate change" as the main culprits due to the "escalating price of food and therapeutic treatments."

"Since the beginning of the year, the escalating global food crisis has led to 260,000 additional children suffering severe weight loss in 15 countries affected by the impact of this crisis in a particular way, including in the Horn of Africa and the Sahel region," the organization specified in a statement quoted by Lusa.

In addition, UNICEF warns, "rising food prices" due to war, "budget cuts caused by the covid-19 (RTUTF) pandemic," and also "extreme drought in many countries have caused the need for Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food to skyrocket," the cost of which is expected to suffer a "16% increase in the next six months."

"Currently, at least 10 million severely malnourished children, or two in three, so have access to the most effective treatment through Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food," a peanut-based paste enriched with nutrients, the UN office pointed out.

Furthermore, the increase in the price of RTUTF by "about 16% over the next six months could mean that more than 600,000 children will be left without access to this life-saving treatment."

For this reason, UNICEF Portugal launched an appeal to "raise awareness and funds to enable the monitoring of children and their families" in an "effort to save lives every day".

To that end, the organization calls for "a financial package in the order of $1.2 billion" to be made available for "essential nutrition services and care to prevent millions of child deaths" in the countries most affected by the food crisis and "respond to the immediate needs of severely malnourished children."