Ration Cuts
TAKING FROM THE HUNGRY TO FEED THE STARVING
In 2023, World Vision provided over 20 million people in 46 countries with food and cash assistance. Of those, more than 16 million people in 29 countries were reached in partnership with the United Nations (UN) World Food Programme (WFP).
However, faced with shrinking resources and rising needs, humanitarian actors are now being forced to make impossible decisions: restricting food assistance or removing assistance altogether.
It’s time for the world to say ENOUGH. Enough hunger. Enough malnutrition.
Children are already dying of preventable causes related to hunger – the need is urgent. Aid that provides the right proportion and nutrition content for children, on time, must be part of every emergency response.
To better comprehend this alarming crisis and create this report, we surveyed:
A total of 929 people in six countries that have been affected by ration cuts in early 2024.
A mix of displaced, host, and refugee families in Demba and Tanganyika in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC),
refugees in Bidi Bidi refugee settlement in Uganda,
host communities and Syrian refugees in Lebanon,
host and displaced families in Somalia,
Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh,
and families in Afghanistan.
It is important to note that the findings of this study represent the experiences of specific families, not the countries or global context as a whole.
Keep scrolling to see our sobering findings:
FINDING NO. 1
Children who once consumed two meals per day are eating just one or zero since ration cuts
Before and after the cuts
While children on average consumed two meals per day before the cuts, when asked how many meals they were eating in January 2024, most families had eaten just one or no meals the day before. More than two-thirds (68%) people said someone in their family had gone to bed hungry in the past four weeks because there was not enough food, and almost half (46%) said someone had gone a whole day and night without eating.
“These findings should instantly ring an alarm bell. Climate change, conflict, and COVID-19 have left more than 38 million people one step from starvation, and humanitarian aid is struggling to keep up. Children are telling us about parents sending them to work or get married, and in some cases, considering suicide as a result of the cuts.”
The ration cuts are impacting the world's most vulnerable people. We need urgent action, now.
FINDING NO. 2
Ration cuts are pushing more families into debt and forcing them to increase working hours
Coping strategies
In addition to the reduced quality and quantity of food consumed, ration cuts were associated with the use of negative coping mechanisms to manage this crisis. For example, 53% of surveyed households perceived families in their communities had become increasingly burdened by debt due to ration cuts.
To cope with the scarcity of food, 46% of families reported resorting to borrowing money from a friend, relative, or neighbour to make ends meet. This was less common amongst internally displaced families, however, with 23% resorting to borrowing money from friends and neighbours.
“The reduction of rations has affected everyone in general, with men having to increase their work efforts and women working hard in their homes and sometimes without eating to save the little food that had been distributed.”
Besides increased debt taken on by adults, we found that once again, children are disproportionately affected by these negative coping mechanisms. The next few findings will explain how their health, protection, education, and mental health are at greater risk than ever before.
FINDING NO. 3
Ration cuts are impacting health and nutrition
More than just hunger
Beyond the feeling of an empty stomach, prolonged and acute food insecurity negatively affects children’s and carers’ physical health in many ways. In addition to pre-existing health needs, caregivers thought the ration cuts were exacerbating already dire health problems, including malnutrition and waterborne diseases.
“Malnutrition conditions have gone worse because of the ration cuts, and the reduction in rations has worsened malnutrition conditions within refugee communities.”
More than half of parents and caregivers in Afghanistan (97%), Lebanon (66%) and Uganda (82%) say they are spending less on children’s health-care needs as a result of the ration cuts.
Our results show that 42% of caregivers surveyed perceive that food ration cuts contributed to children suffering from malnutrition because they received even less nourishment and micronutrients.
“Malnutrition can result in a variety of health issues, including stunted growth, weakened immune systems, increased susceptibility to infections, and deficiencies in essential nutrients.”
The health situation in Afghanistan appears to be especially bad, where more than 90% of caregivers said children are suffering from preventable illnesses due to lack of medicine (97%), wasting (97%), and preventable diseases like diarrhoea because of ill health due to hunger (94%).
Disproportionate impact: Women, girls, and children with disabilities
Being exposed to prolonged periods of food insecurity and poor diet contributes to malnutrition, including micronutrient deficiencies. This is harmful to women, adolescent girls, and children, especially. When a malnourished girl or woman gets pregnant, there is a risk that her child will be born malnourished, repeating the cycle for the next generation. The findings also point to the evidence that girls and women, especially girls with disabilities, are disproportionately impacted by ration cuts.
Severe hunger and malnutrition also weaken women and girls’ immune systems, leading to more illness and increasing their risk of life-threatening issues during pregnancy and childbirth. Poor maternal nutrition has debilitating and even deadly consequences for infants and young children. Maternal undernutrition, including micronutrient deficiencies, increases the risk of stillbirth, newborn death, and preterm delivery, as well as impaired foetal development, which has lifelong consequences for children’s nutrition, growth, learning, and future earning capacity.
FINDING NO. 4
Ration cuts are accelerating a mental health crisis
The mental burden of hunger
It's natural to consider the devastating physical impacts of hunger, but have you thought about the mental toll of not knowing where your next meal will come from or how you'll feed your family?
There is a complex relationship between food security and mental health. The stress of experiencing rations cuts may compound past traumatic experiences, such as bombings, escapes, or conflict events. Children who have previously experienced traumatic events, such as forcibly displaced children, are more vulnerable to new stressors. Fear of death, destruction, injury, and loss of loved ones may resurface together with overarching fear and sadness.
“Children experiencing food insecurity feel anxious, stressed, ashamed, or worried about where their next meal will come from, leading to emotional distress and low self-esteem.”
The findings paint a sobering picture, with more than one in ten (13%) adults saying they feel so hopeless that they no longer want to carry on living all of the time. Half (50%) of adults said they felt that way most or some of the time. In Afghanistan, parents' answers seem to indicate that almost all adults (97%) are at risk of mental health disorders - more than four times the prevalence for other conflict-affected populations; levels were also four times higher in Lebanon (89%); and more than three times in Bidi Bidi (79%).
FINDING NO. 5
Ration cuts are worsening the child protection crisis
Working, trafficked, and abused
Displaced children are especially vulnerable to child pro