Malnutrition: A food crisis symptom?

Malawi: Flora Weluzani, 23, is a mother of two children. The two children are all suffering from malnutrition. Recently, the children were admitted at Mitundu Nutrition Rehabilitation Centre, located in Lilongwe, Malawi’s capital, suffering from malnutrition.

Weluzani’s children only need enough and a good diet for them to recover from their health problems. But the Weluzanis cannot afford the required food diet to feed the children, mainly because they are poor.

Weluzani’s children like many other children in Malawi are suffering from diseases that are preventable. But some of the food shortage problems are a result of climate change which has a huge impact on food security in the country.

An estimated 3.8 million people, about 20% of the 19.1 million Malawians are facing food starvation. The country’s food shortage is blamed mainly on climate change impacts.

During the last growing season, the country faced drought and floods in many parts and this negatively affected crop yields.

The situation has also been compounded by COVID-19 which has affected not only Malawi but has a global impact. A report by the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) published in October this year indicates that 114 million jobs were lost and “working hour losses in 2020 were approximately four times higher than in 2008–2009, with largest losses occurring in lower-middle-income countries.”

In Malawi, the government estimated that COVID-19 put 1.5 million workers out of jobs. As a result of these job losses, many households are not even able to feed themselves.

Health experts say the most affected are children who are suffering from malnutrition.

Amiston Mnjogo, a Health Surveillance Assistance (HSA) at Chiwamba Health Centre in the outskirts of Lilongwe said in an interview that most of the children under the age of 5 are undernourished, stunting and underweight, which he says are a result of poor diet.

He says in a month about 57 malnourished children report to the Health facility for treatment, a situation he says is worrying.

“When we get serious cases we send them to Mitundu Nutrition Rehabilitation Centre for further treatment and observation,” he says.

A Senior Health Surveillance Assistance at Mitundu Health Centre attributed the increasing number of child malnutrition cases to a lack of food, especially a good diet.

Chilongo says in a month the Nutrition Rehabilitation Centre receives 15-20 cases of children suffering from malnutrition.

UNICEF Malawi says in February this year there was a 30% (4,472) increase in admissions of children with severe wasting compared to February 2021 (3,442).

The UN agency says in March this year again, a total of 1,334 children under-five were admitted for treatment of moderate wasting and all indicators are pointing at food shortage as the cause.

Impact of climate change and COVID-19 on food security

UNRISD report points out that climate change has led to biodiversity loss and is a result of many diseases the world is facing including the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result of climate change, Malawi has registered food shortages which have had an impact on people's food security.

Malawi is an agricultural country and the people’s livelihoods are directly dependent on it for survival. The rising cost of food has been caused, in part, by climate change because of the shortage of food in the markets.

This means that many Malawians cannot afford considering that over half of the population is poor with three-quarters living on less than $1.90 a day.

While the poor and marginalized contribute the least to climate change, the report says they are the “most likely to be harmed by it and they have the fewest resources to cope with it.”

Statistics show that poor countries such as Malawi are the least contributor to climate change with Malawi’s total GHG emissions in 2011 being at 10.85 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e), totalling 0.02 per cent of global GHG emissions.

On COVID-19 the report indicates that the number of job losses has been lost meant that millions of people are still suffering from its impacts.

The fact that many people have lost jobs due to COVID-19 means that they cannot even afford decent food on the table which in many cases has led to malnutrition.

Impact of malnutrition on the economy

Women in Malawi bear the burden of caring for the sick and including children who are suffering from diseases.

The amount of time spent caring for the sick is enough for them to do something productive such as farming in the fields.

The UNRISD report shows that three-quarters of the unpaid work is done by women. As a consequence, says the report, women are more likely to suffer from time poverty and have poorer mental health compared to men.

“Women face a double burden, ‘caregiving roles and cultural norms or bias that impede women’s transition not only from unpaid to paid work but also from lower-quality to higher-quality jobs,’” says the report.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that the impact malnutrition has on the global economy could be as high as US$3.5 trillion per year, or US$500 per individual.

It says Malawi is losing 10.6% of its GDP per year due to hampered productivity caused by malnutrition. It further estimates that up to 45% of all preventable child deaths are caused by undernutrition, while “severely undernourished children are up to nine times more likely to die than well-nourished children.”

With climate change and COVID-19 having a serious knock on the economy and food security, authorities should put in place policies that will address problems caused by natural phenomena, otherwise, poor Malawians like Weluzani and her children will continue suffering.