Education and
Nutrition
Key message
Key challenges
- Poor nutrition significantly impacts a child's development in their early years. 45 million children under the age of 5 are suffering from wasting and 149 million are suffering from stunting. Poor nutrition during the first 1,000 days of a child's life can lead to irreversible impairments in physical growth and cognitive development.
(World Food Programme, 2023) - Malnutrition hinders a child’s ability to learn. In low and middle income countries, about 300 million school children have iron-deficiency anemia, causing them to lose approximately 6 IQ points per child. Around 73 million primary school children in low and middle income countries go to school hungry.
(UNESCO, 2022) - When schools close during emergencies, millions of children miss out on a critical daily source of food and nutrition. Approximately 370 million children in at least 161 countries globally were deprived of what was their main meal of the day due to school closures during COVID-19. Even the best managed alternatives only reached less than 40% of the school-based programmes they tried to replace.
(UNESCO, 2022) - Children are at the most risk of starvation in conflict zones. Children living in countries ravaged by war are more than twice as likely to be malnourished as their peers, and 40% of all displaced people are children.
(World Food Programme, 2023) - The adequate nutritional value and diversity of food must be ensured in school feeding programmes. The impact that food has on learning is dependent on whether it provides the child with the correct nutrients they need to develop and learn. It must also meet gender-specific nutritional needs and the needs of learners at different ages and in different conditions.
(UNESCO, 2022) - Girls especially find themselves at risk of hunger. More than 60% of the world’s hungriest people are women and girls. Inequality stemming from factors such as early marriage, young motherhood, and lack of education, means girls are much more likely to be malnourished, causing immediate and long-term health problems.
(World Food Programme, 2023)
Make the case
- Pairing education with complementary health care services in schools increases the benefits a mother’s education transfers to her child. Children in Ethiopia whose mother had attended a primary school coupled with access to antenatal care were 39% less likely to be stunted at the age of one than children with a mother who had attended a primary school with little or no access to antenatal care.
(Sabates, 2013) - Investing in early childhood education and nutrition yields immense economic gains. Each US$1 invested in early childhood nutrition can generate up to US$16 in economic returns. Malnourished children who do not meet their developmental potential go on to earn 20% less as adults; in low and middle-income countries, the impact of malnutrition could decrease GDP by between 2-11%.
(World Food Programme, 2023) (Save the Children, 2013) - Schools can provide nutritional benefits for entire families. School meals provide nourishment that contributes to both learning and health outcomes for 310 million children in low- and middle-income countries daily, ensuring that children are not too hungry or malnourished to learn. In Uganda, school meals helped reduce anaemia in young girls by 20%.
(World Food Programme, 2019) (Adelman et al., 2019) - Using schools to distribute take-home meals boosts nutrition. Take-home rations can extend nutritional benefits to entire households, which has been proven to boost the nutritional status of younger family members.
(Kazianga et al., 2014) - An educated mother is more likely to breastfeed, a key tool in the prevention of malnutrition. Exclusive breastfeeding provides children with all of the nutrition they need for healthy growth and brain development, while providing protection from respiratory infections, and diarrheal disease. It can also help to prevent obesity, and non-communicable diseases like diabetes, later in life.
(Heck et al., 2006) (WHO, 2023) - Education helps to ensure a diverse and healthy diet that includes micronutrients — a vital component to proper nutrition and disease prevention. In Tanzania, children whose mothers had at least a secondary education were twice as likely to consume food rich in micronutrients in comparison to mothers with a primary education or less. Young children lacking key nutrients like vitamin A and iron are more likely to be malnourished and more prone to infections like measles, diarrhoea and anaemia, that affect their cognitive development.
(EFA GMR, 2014) - Proper nutrition allows children to learn at the highest rates and realise their full economic potential. Children with good nutrition can increase their future wages by up to 50% and reduce the chance that they will experience poverty later in life by 33%.
(Theirworld, 2020) - Nutritional meals can result in better performance. Nutritional energy is essential for concentration and participation in school activities. Well nourished children focus better and learn more in the classroom, leading to better performance.
(UNESCO, 2023)
Key opinion
Stefania Giannini
Assistant Director-General for Education, UNESCO
Every child has the right to quality education, health, food and adequate nutrition. Every child has the right to thrive and realize their full potential. Further, the education, health and nutrition of young people are not only rights and ends in themselves; they are an investment in a country’s future and in the capacity of its people to lead productive and fulfilling lives.
Key talking points
- 45 million children suffer from severe malnutrition every year.
- Good nutrition promotes better health, school attendance and learning.
- Education creates a cycle of good health and nutrition. Children of educated mothers are better nourished.
- Schools provide an ideal delivery point for school meals and nutrition.
- Healthier school meals lead to better learning outcomes.
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