Essentials

Globally an estimated 450 million children live in areas with inadequate access to food and water- two of the essential items required for human survival. Poor nutrition can lead to outbreaks of preventable diseases and water shortages leads to people using polluted water leading to waterborne diseases.

It is estimated that 600 million children will be living in areas with extremely limited water resources by 2040. This leads to young children having to miss school to travel far to gather water for themselves and their families or drink unclean water which carries high risks of diarrhoea, malaria, typhoid, cholera, worms and parasites, and trachoma. As with water, availability of food is caused by several different reasons including children being in conflict countries, dramatic increases in food prices, COVID-19 pandemic, and climate change. This puts children at a high risk of malnutrition, illness and even death due to hunger.

Life threatening conditions are faced by children in developing countries, bare necessities the rest of the world takes for granted. Having access to clean water and food should be an essential part of living and the crisis will only continue to grow unless something is done to bring these essentials to them.