MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Unicef outlines Argentine children's gloomy present

Unicef found that around 10 million children were consuming less meat and dairy products

The Argentine chapter of the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) issued a report Tuesday showing that some 1.5 million children in the South American country skipped meals every day and at least 1 million cannot eat dinner. The same document published within the framework of the campaign “Hunger does not have a happy ending” also found that 4.5 million adults in these households fail to eat all their daily meals as well given the current economic crisis and would rather feed their offspring.

“Rising prices and economic stagnation for more than a decade have affected the income-generating capacity of millions of households with children,” Unicef explained.

Unicef also found that around 10 million children were consuming less meat and dairy products compared to last year as almost half of the households with children are unable to cover basic food, health, and education costs. The UN agency hence underlined the need to implement combined policies to protect children through aid programs for the most underprivileged sectors of society.

According to Argentina's National Institute of Statistics and Census (Indec), the latest INDEC figures, poverty in Argentina reached 41.7% in the second half of 2023, affecting 19.5 million people. Indigence reached 11.9%, impacting 5.6 million people. The next report in this regard is due on Sept. 26.

The latest study from the Argentine Catholic University's (UCA) Observatory of the Argentine Social Debt detected that 54.9% of the population was poor and 20.3% was indigent. Unicef reported that so far in 2024, 70% of children lived in poverty and 30% in extreme poverty.

“One out of four families stopped buying medicines for their children, and medical and dental check-ups were reduced”, Sebastián Waisgrais of Unicef's Social Inclusion and Monitoring team told Página 12. To make matters worse, 9% of households dropped their medical insurance plans, he added. Food insecurity has become “one of today's most sensitive problems,” he also noted.

”What we observe is that income restrictions in households are linked to a broader context: so far in 2024, 15% (some breadwinner) of families lost their jobs, and 65% of them are located in the most vulnerable sectors,” said Waisgrais. In addition, 14% of relying on self-employed workers have lost many of their clients. As a result, borrowing is on the surge.