Who is at the greatest risk of suffering from hunger and malnutrition?
Children under the age of five are most vulnerable to malnutrition. The World Health Organization (WHO) links malnutrition to at least half of the approximately ten million child deaths that occur every year. Younger children are more susceptible to disease resulting from malnutrition and they also experience irreversible physical and mental damage that affects them throughout their lifetimes. The Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) addresses the need for adequate food, and directly calls for the inclusion of clean drinking water in consideration of the health and nutritional well-being of the child. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates that there are close to 800 million malnourished people globally. [Back to Top] Rights at Stake The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (article 25, paragraph 1) determines that “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including
