Children starved of nutrients

Malnutrition is the most urgent concern for children in times of drought and famine.

Malnourished children are especially vulnerable to diseases like malaria, pneumonia and diarrhoea.

Critical food shortages combined with poor sanitation - from lack of clean water - can result in sight-destroying trachoma.

At its worst, when children’s bodies are so starved of nutrients, they develop pellagra.

Pellagra is the result of severe niacin deficiency, and has devastating effects the central nervous system - damaging brain and nerve function.

• In the developing world 146 million children are underweight.
• More than one quarter of all children in the developing world under five are underweight.
• In Sub-Saharan Africa almost a third of children under five are underweight.
• CBM treats malnutrition with UNIMIX, a high-protein porridge, fortified with vitamins and minerals. Children are given the porridge once or twice a day (depending on severity of malnourishment).