Hunger – A Lethal Weapon of War: The impact of conflict-related hunger on children

Where there is conflict, there is almost always hunger. And where there is hunger, it is children who are most at risk.

Save the Children’s analysis of child malnutrition in the world’s ten worst conflicts for children shows that in 2018, 590,000 children are likely to miss out on treatment and to die as a result of hunger. This means that, without emergency relief in these conflict zones, an average of 1,600 children a day – or one child a minute – will fall victim to starvation and disease.1 Warring parties often deliberately withhold or deny humanitarian access, destroy the infrastructure civilians need to meet their basic needs, and weaponise starvation. For the first time in decades, global hunger is on the rise – with three-quarters of stunted children living in conflict zones.