Hunger, child marriages ...

Global lack of funds has serious consequences

Children in Gaza suffer from hunger

(Bild: ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Funding for humanitarian aid is being reduced worldwide, which has serious consequences for people, especially for children who have fled and are in need. They receive less food and suffer from hunger. 

Many aid organizations are forced by the financial bottlenecks to significantly reduce food rations for displaced people and those affected by natural disasters. The people affected receive only a fraction of the calories they need each month or are excluded from aid deliveries altogether. As a result, the number of meals per day is decreasing.

A recent report by the international children's aid organization World Vision shows that this leads to a significant increase in child marriage and child labour.

Only one or no meals per day
While children - for example in Uganda, Afghanistan and Lebanon - ate an average of two meals per day before the cuts, most families had only eaten one meal or none at all on the day before the survey in January 2024. Almost half of the refugees stated that both girls and boys are now exposed to more violence, neglect or abuse at home.

Ringing alarm bells
Mary Njeri, Director of Hunger Relief at World Vision, explains: "These findings should immediately ring alarm bells. Climate change, conflict and COVID-19 have left more than 38 million people on the brink of starvation, and humanitarian aid is not enough. Children tell us that their parents send them to work or marry them off."

"Hunger is killing people not only through malnutrition, but also through mental illness. Long-term support is also essential so that children can go back to school and families can continue to farm, find work and provide for themselves."