World hunger: the solution
Together, we can end hunger for good
When children have enough to eat, they can do what they do best... Play. Learn. Dream.
But when they don’t, their whole world starts to collapse.
As conflicts escalate, the climate crisis deepens and global inequality widens, record numbers of children face the ever-growing threat of hunger.
Here’s the good news. Hunger is not a lost cause. Malnutrition is treatable and preventable. Low-cost interventions can save children’s lives.
Save the Children is working across the globe, supporting children and their families to overcome hunger. Our work aims to respond to children’s immediate needs and where urgent action is needed to save lives, whilst also implementing long-term solutions to help communities become more resilient towards the risk of future food crises.
- We’re working with families around the world to respond to hunger and malnutrition.
- We’re building sustainable projects and designing innovative solutions with communities to stop hunger.
- We’re making sure governments and international institutions tackle the root causes of this hunger crisis.
In 2023, we reached 33.7 million children through our health and nutrition programming.
Continue scrolling to learn more about how we're ending the global hunger crisis.
Together, we can stop hunger.
Three steps to ending the global hunger crisis
We’ve worked with tens of millions of children, equipping them with the tools to regain their childhoods.
Our response is global. With a presence in over 100 countries, we can quickly engage the expertise of local partners to deliver lifesaving nutrition in times of crisis. We also have an eye on the long-term, going beyond just food by making sure communities are empowered to sustain themselves for generations to come.
These are the three key steps we're taking to end hunger for children.
1.
We spot signs of hunger as early as possible so we can take action – fast
Hunger-related crises can be predicted well in advance: when crops fail or fighting breaks out, hunger is likely to follow. With the right funding, we can make sure communities are properly equipped to make it through disasters like these. We work with local communities to identify the risks to hunger and to mitigate them.
We monitor forecasts and potential risks, such as El Niño and Dzud, and work with partners to train communities to detect early warning signs so that they can take action to protect children from harm.
When disaster hits, we give parents the cash they need to buy healthy food for their children. If there’s no food available to buy, we provide emergency food parcels and ready-to-eat meals.
In 2023, we provided 8.2 million children and their families with livelihood support, and cash and voucher assistance to buy food and other essentials. This is one of the best anti-poverty tools available and can save lives in emergencies.
Surviving devastating winter storms: Byamba-Ochir's story
12-year-old Byamba-Ochir lives in a village on the border between Mongolia and Russia. The area is regularly affected by Dzud, a slow-onset natural disaster that brings icy winter conditions. Dzud destroys grazing land for herder communities and can cause the animals, which these communities rely on, to die in large numbers. This can contribute to poverty and hunger in the village.
Dzud means a lot of snow and damage to the animals... It is difficult for me when the animals get sick.”
In anticipation of Dzud, Save the Children and our partners put in place an initiative to support herders and their children in the area where Byamba-Ochir lives. Byamba-Ochir and his family received 160kg of animal fodder and cash grants of US $80 to help them prepare for the impact of the Dzud.
The cash assistance will be used for immediate needs such as food, flour and rice.”
Help protect children like Byamba-Ochir from hunger.
2.
We work with experts to swiftly treat hunger and malnutrition
We train health workers to spot, diagnose, prevent, and treat malnutrition in their communities. This means that when hunger strikes, we are ready.
Our expert medical teams treat children with severe malnutrition, using medicines, antibiotics and specially formulated milk. We also provide counselling for parents of children with severe malnutrition.
We've developed a simple community-based tool, in collaboration with Hawassa University College of Medicine & Health Sciences (HUCMHS), that uses a newborn's foot size to identify low birth weight, empowering mothers to quickly spot at-risk babies and seek vital care quickly.
A mother measuring her newborn foot length at a hospital. Photo: Seifu Assegid/Save the Children
A mother measuring her newborn foot length at a hospital. Photo: Seifu Assegid/Save the Children
In 2023, together with our partners, 15.4 million children received support to prevent and treat under nutrition.
One of our most effective weapons against malnutrition is peanut paste. We put malnourished children on a course of this high-energy paste packed with all the vitamins, minerals and calories they need to survive and recover quickly – like Sahra* has.
More than just peanuts: Sahra*'s story
10-year-old Sahra spins and giggles as she chats to us. Her energy is infectious, her joy bright like new snow.
She’s been going to one of our children’s centres, where she’s been getting nutritious food and playing with other kids. But until recently, things were very different.
Sahra lives in a refugee camp in Somalia. Drought, war and economic hardship left her and her family with little resources to buy or grow food. As a result, Sahra was often hungry and listless.
When I feel hungry, my stomach groans. When I don’t eat something, I feel tired, and I don’t play so much. When I feel hungry, I can’t read well.”
Sahra's mother found out about a nearby Save the Children centre where Sahra could learn to be a child again. She could also get much-needed food in the form of a high-calorie peanut paste which has put Sahra back on the right track. This peanut paste is one of the most effective ways we have to fight malnutrition. It is low-cost and can save children's lives.
When I eat the peanut paste, I become filled up. Plumpy nut is very sweet, it is made of sugar. After eating it, I get the energy to play with my friends."
When I go to the Child Friendly Space, I have breakfast and I play with the other kids. We play skipping rope and seesawing. Those are the games I like most. We also learn some things.”
Sahra is now full of beans and bursting with dreams.
I will start school this year and I wish to graduate. When I finish, I would like to be a doctor because I like to help people.”
All children deserve to reach their full potential in life. Malnutrition is treatable and preventable. Together, we can stop hunger.
3.
We put in place long-term solutions to prevent hunger from coming back
We go beyond food. We believe in long-term, sustainable solutions to food insecurity. We future-proof communities by providing tools to help them break the hunger cycle.
We offer cash transfers to help families build crucial safety nets so that they don't feel compelled to take desperate measures that put their children at risk, such as pulling their children out of school or forcing their young daughters to marry. With cash grants, families can also invest in their own solutions to help break out of poverty.
We protect mangroves to prevent flooding and teach flood-resistant farming practices.
We support farming families with drought-resistant seeds, and supply tools for agriculture and managing their livestock. We also partner with farmers and others to provide free school meals so that children have all the energy they need to focus and learn.
We work with local communities, international, national and local organisations and governments to stamp out inequality and food insecurity.
In 2023, 15 governments and global actors made policy, legal, system or public investment changes to meet children's right to health and nutrition as a result of our policy and advocacy work.
Seeds of change: Tomás*' story
Rebeca, the mother of Tomás and his brother Edizon*, is one of the farmers working with Save the Children in Guatemala.
Local farmers are supported with farming skills, so they can provide healthy, nutritious food to over 280 schools. This reduces waste and boosts the local economy. Most importantly, it means no child goes hungry at school.
Tomás explains the benefits to his education.
When I eat well at school, it means I am more creative.”
Rebeca provides food to five schools, feeding over 1,500 children in her community. She says:
We try to give them food that is locally produced. Otherwise, we don't know where products come from or whether they've been produced under good agricultural practices."
Farming has been getting more difficult with increasingly unpredictable weather. Together with our partners, we have provided Rebeca and the other farmers with drought and flood-resistant seeds.
The improved seeds will help children in the future, because they'll always have food."
With lovingly prepared, nutritious meals, Tomás is already thinking of his future, he says:
I would like to be a maths genius!”
Access to nutritious food is a fundamental child right. Hunger is not a lost cause.
Join us
Children like Byamba-Ochir, Sahra and Tomás are doing everything they can to hold on to their childhoods.
We have the knowledge, network and staff to stop hunger in its tracks.
Now all we need is you, because you have the power to make it all happen.
Hunger is not a lost cause. Together we can stop hunger.
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