Acute malnutrition among pregnant women surges in poorer countries

Globally, 51 million children under two years old are too short for their age due to malnutrition, a condition called stunting, and half of these become stunted during pregnancy or within their first six months of life, the report states.

A Somali woman breastfeeds her child at a camp for displaced people on the outskirts of Dollow (Jerome Delay/AP)

Acute malnutrition among pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers has increased by 25% in the past two years in 12 countries hard hit by rising food prices fuelled by the fighting in Ukraine, according to a United Nations report.

Surveys in 10 countries in Africa and two in the Middle East that are worst affected by the food crisis were used in a Unicef report, released on Tuesday, a day before International Women’s Day.