Cairo -

It seems that the successive economic crises suffered by Egyptians during the past decades have begun to affect children, as the first regional conference on social welfare policies in the capital, Cairo, sounded the alarm, warning of the exacerbation of the "stunting" crisis among children in the country caused by malnutrition.

Against the backdrop of a visit to a number of educational institutions in the southern governorate of Minya, the representative of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Cairo, Jeremy Hopkins, called for redoubling efforts to reduce malnutrition, praising at the same time government steps in this direction.

During his speech at the conference, the UNICEF representative considered that Egypt has witnessed remarkable progress in many areas related to children's rights, including nutrition, with efforts to reduce stunting, wasting, underweight and weight gain rates, as well as reducing violence against children.

According to UNICEF estimates, malnutrition causes two-thirds of child deaths, while Egypt is among the 36 countries where 90% of global malnutrition is concentrated.

According to medical warnings, anemia (anemia or a deficiency in red cells/hemoglobin in the blood that leads to pallor and fatigue) is a major challenge in Egypt, affecting 27.2% of children under the age of five, and about 25% of women of childbearing age (15). -49 years old).

Anemia during pregnancy is one of the main causes of anemia in infants and children, and a series of affordable treatments during the first 1,000 days of a woman's pregnancy can alleviate the problem.

Anemia is a major challenge in Egypt, affecting 27.2% of children under the age of five (Shutterstock)

The devastating effects of malnutrition on children

In this context, nutrition expert Salwa Hefny says that cases of malnutrition are not only represented in a lack of food, but rather extend to weight gain, obesity, or defects related to diet and lifestyle in general among individuals.

Hefny talks about what she calls a long series of devastating effects in early childhood with poor physical development, warning of the emergence of a generation of dwarfs and short stature.

She pointed out that stunting may coincide with cases of wasting among sectors of school students.

In turn, the CEO of the Egyptian Food Bank, Mohsen Sarhan, spoke about efforts to confront stunting, indicating that its prevalence rate among children under the age of five is about 13%, while wasting and underweight in children reach 8% and 6%, respectively, and the rate of anemia among children under The age of five reaches 43%.

On his Facebook page, Sarhan said that the problem of dwarfism is linked to malnutrition in the first thousand days of life, which leads to a weakness in the physical and mental development of children, which can be remedied and treated mainly before the age of two years, adding, "After this age, treatment becomes extremely difficult." difficulty.”

Sarhan indicates that the Egyptian Food Bank sought to reduce the spread of stunting by providing proper nutrition and awareness and precautionary activities to prevent it from occurring at an early age, explaining that the program serves more than 37,000 children across 10 governorates.

UNICEF: Egypt is among 36 countries where 90% of the world's malnutrition problems are concentrated (Al-Jazeera)

Urgent government action to solve the nutrition crisis

For its part, the Egyptian government announced an urgent move to expand the school feeding program, as part of an official plan for the state in its strategic vision for the year 2030.

The Ministry of Education recently launched an electronic application to follow up the delivery of school feeding meals, explaining that the application was circulated to the targeted schools in all governorates at the beginning of the second semester.

Dalia Al-Hazawi, founder of the Parents of Egypt Coalition, praised the use of the application, saying, "This measure will contribute greatly to ensuring that meals reach eligible students, as well as the safety of the meal."

In a statement issued by the coalition, Al-Hazawi considered that school meals reflect the state's interest in the health of students, stressing that it differed from what existed before that, as it was taken into account that the meal contained all nutrients and malnutrition was treated through it.

The Ministry of Local Development also entered the line, announcing the allocation of 1.1 billion pounds over the next two years to establish school feeding stores and ensure regular meals to improve the health of students, especially in remote and poor places that witness dropouts from education and the spread of dwarfism, anemia and obesity.

Complaints of interruption of school meals

On the other hand, Khalifa (R) - who is a guardian - says that his children do not receive their share of school feeding regularly in their schools in Dakahlia Governorate, claiming that there are cases of poisoning in neighboring governorates due to the expiration of the meals, while responding to him (S) - also a guardian - That the nutrition is appropriate, and he says, "Something is better than nothing." The two refused to give their names.

During the inauguration of the second phase of the "Silo Foods" industrial food city in the Menoufia Governorate, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi stressed the need for a stable and safe school feeding system, stressing that all foodstuffs being produced are in accordance with international requirements.