WHO unveils framework to support nutrition goals hampered by COVID-19

05 Jul 2022 --- The pandemic may have destroyed the maternal, infant, and young child nutrition goals set by the World Health Assembly (WHA). Yet a newly launched framework by the World Health Organization may help stakeholders curb the effects of the next pandemic and tackle the effects of this one.

COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on nutrition, especially in lower-income countries. This framework may help stakeholders identify, assess and understand the connections between the pandemic and nutrition, as well as the factors and determinants affecting nutrition.

“The negative effects of poor nutrient absorption, infection and inflammation were amplified during the pandemic for various reasons, ranging from less healthy diets to reduced access to health and nutrition services,” says the report compiled by the WHO, Unicef and USAID.

The knowledge gained through the framework aims to equip stakeholders to prepare and offer adequate assistance. “The framework has the potential to support an integrated, systems approach to nutrition challenges caused, increased or intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic and future pandemics/crises.”

Predictive factorsThe framework aims to reduce and prevent negative health effects during ongoing and future pandemics.
The framework concentrates on the immediate, underlying and enabling determinants that impact how the pandemic affected certain areas. Some factors are fairly straightforward: if an area is already experiencing a humanitarian emergency, such as a drought, the people in those areas may have already had a hard time meeting their nutrition needs.

The loss of government-sponsored nutrition programs was also a huge determinant. “These services, including school feeding, micronutrient supplementation and nutrition promotion programs, are a critical part of the integrated approaches needed to make progress towards the WHA targets,” the authors stress.

Lastly, factors like the loss of trade supply lines and the debilitating effects of protectionist trade policies also had disastrous consequences for children in medium to low-income countries. 

Thwarted goals
In 2012 the WHA had set goals to bolster the health of infants and young children as well as that of their mothers. They intended to reduce the rates of low birth weight in infants by 30%. For children under the age of five, they determined to reduce the rates of stunting by 40% and the rate of wasting by 5%. 

They also wanted to ensure that there was no increase in childhood obesity. 

Finally, they set a target of reducing anemia in reproductive-age women and increasing the amount of exclusive breastfeeding within the first six months, both by 50%.

The goals were meant to be met by 2025. However, UNICEF reported that “low and middle-income countries experienced a 30% reduction in the coverage of essential nutrition services in 2020.” 

Moreover, the WHA states that the prospects of meeting their 2025 goals were already low before the pandemic. Mainly due to determining factors that were already in place before the pandemic struck.Increased access to unhealthy foods during the COVID-19 pandemic spiked childhood obesity rates.

Unexpected consequences
Some determinants were harder to predict. For instance, it was revealed that the actual stay-at-home orders may have inadvertently caused more damage than good in some communities, such as those in multi-generational homes where family members were now forced to crowd together.

The authors found a rise in non-compliance with food regulations and policies within the food industry. “Food companies took advantage of captive audiences due to movement restrictions to increase their product marketing and advertising campaigns, including campaigns for highly processed foods that appeal to people because of their fat, salt and/or sugar content.” reads the report.

This, coupled with the limited availability of affordable healthy foods due to supply chain issues, led to an increase in childhood obesity in some areas during the pandemic. 

The study reports this is the result of, “The unhealthy effects of a reliance on highly processed food, which are typically less nutrient-dense products, are further complicated by declines in physical activity and increases in sedentary activities, which are also the result of stringent movement restrictions, including school closures.” 

By William Bradford Nichols