Children who survive Gaza's starvation crisis will suffer permanent damage as a lack of food affects their growth and brain development, experts told The National.
Nearly 12,000 children under the age of five were found to be acutely malnourished in July, the UN said. It was the highest monthly figure recorded to date in Gaza.
Famine was declared in the enclave by an international hunger monitor, after Israel blocked aid from entering the strip, depriving 2.2 million people of a daily supply of food and medicine, as well as sufficient shelter. Officials in Gaza have said more than 190 people, including at least 96 children, have died of hunger.
Many Palestinians fear what is to come, as Israel discusses a move to reoccupy Gaza and aid distribution sites run by the US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation turn into death traps.
But the war will have a lasting effect on those who survive. The first three years of a child's life are crucial, with their brains developing faster during their first 1,000 days than at any other time in their lives, said Lynnda Kiess, a nutritionist at the World Food Programme.
"Poor nutrition during that window leads to irreversible damage to the child’s growing brain which can be seen at school and their economic performance later on," she said.
Save the Children said 43 per cent of Gaza's breastfeeding mothers needed treatment for malnutrition. Some women have reported having no breast milk as they grow more weary, hungry and thirsty.
The effects a lack of vitamin A, iron, folic acid and zinc can have on pregnant women and children can only be seen after it is too late to reverse the damage. "In the case of vitamin A, children develop night blindness or eye malformations – and by then that's very, very late," Ms Kiess said.
When a child is denied a steady supply of nutritious food, as has been the case in Gaza for the past 22 months, not only is their growth interrupted, but the development of their immune system is also harmed, making them more prone to illnesses.
The children of Gaza who survive the war are unlikely to reach their full potential, Ms Keiss warned. "The cost of missing that 1,000-day window, and not being able to provide the nutrition in that window on an individual, community and societal level, is an opportunity lost," she explained.
World Bank studies have shown that countries can lose up to 10 per cent of their GDP due to malnutrition. "Good nutrition contributes to human capital development and, if we don’t have that, then it sets back countries for economic development in the future," Ms Kiess added.
Children who have had insufficient access to food can develop learning difficulties. Rob Williams, head of the War Child Alliance charity, said pupils in Gaza who have been out of school for two years will also have to battle post-traumatic stress disorders when they return to the classroom.
These challenges, exacerbated by food insecurity, can cause difficulties with simple matters such as concentrating in class, because of the interruption to the child's cognitive development. "In general, a child who has experienced malnutrition might have a lower IQ score, with an average of seven to 10 points less than their peers who grew up in the same country but without acute malnutrition in that age," Mr Williams said.
He also made reference to the Barbados Nutrition Study, a 55-year project that looked at adults who experienced malnutrition in their first year of life, showing they were more likely to develop behavioural problems.
"Beyond physical injury and deaths, which have been visible, there will be invisible internal injuries that will play out over years and may lead to life-long challenges for a whole generation that would achieve less than they might otherwise," Mr Williams said.
