Sorry, you need to enable JavaScript to visit this website.
Skip to main content
Cousins Anabely, 11, and Maria Elena, 12, eating fruit at school in Quiche district, Guatemala

Anabely, 11, is often found climbing trees and exploring the outdoors. She even writes poetry about her love for nature and animals. At home, she looks after her little grey cat called Nema, and lots of chickens. A connection with nature is part of daily life in rural Guatemala, where Anabely lives. The region is called ‘Quiche’, which means ‘many trees’. The lush green landscape is framed by rolling hills and mountains. Families here rely on growing food to eat and sell. But due to climate change, the weather is getting more extreme, making it difficult for farmers to grow food. When a huge storm struck the region, many families lost their crops. Anabely remembers the event clearly, “The storm made me very sad because many people died, many others lost their homes.” Save the Children provided the families with cash transfers. This gave families who had lost their harvest a lifeline. Farmers have also been provided with flood and drought resistant seeds. This helps reduce the risk of their crops being destroyed. To boost the local economy, farmers are providing fresh produce to local schools - including Anabely’s. This produce is used to cook healthy lunches for children, so no child goes hungry. Anabely explains, “When my belly is full, I feel like doing things! For example, when I am given work in class.” Roxy, her teacher, says Anabely and her best friend and cousin Maria Elena, 11, “motivates the entire group” with their energy. “They are very active, incredibly competitive. They compete a lot between them to see who will stand out, each of them wants to be the best.” Anabely’s story in her own words - Introduction: My name is Anabely, I'm 11 years old, and I live in Guatemala. I live here with my mum, my dad, my sisters, my aunt. I'd like to be a lawyer and a painter, and a nurse, to save many people. Food/ education: When my belly is full, I feel like doing things - for example, when I am given work in class. When the teacher calls us, we bring our book; she gives us homework and explains it a little bit. I like doing my homework and drawing. Traditional Mayan clothes: My clothes have a meaning because they're typical and beautiful. Sometimes I don´t want to wear them, and sometimes I do. COVID-19 pandemic: Many things have changed since the emergence of COVID, for example, I'm very sad because people have died, others are sick now, and now that the end is near, Ukraine and Russia are fighting. The storm/ the environment: The storm made me very sad because many people died, many others lost their homes. Rains that are usual here scare us. People are mourning their dead relatives, they were given some food to eat because they no longer had a home, and they had run out of food. I like playing in the trees. Although I'm an only child, I like playing alone anyway. I live in a beautiful planet that gives us water, air, sun every day, and many other things. Sports/ basketball: I like playing basketball with my friends and playing in teams. Even if boys tease us, we don´t do that when they play basketball. It's good for girls to play sports because it's good exercise, to increase our blood flow, instead of being lying idle or sitting. According to Catarina, 43, Anabely’s mother - In previous times we have always been planting corn, but during the storms experienced here in our community there was no longer so much harvest because the whole crop was damaged by the heavy rains that occurred. And now people don't sow [plant] anymore. In the month of May we are going to sow again, God willing, the same thing does not happen and that this time we will get good harvests. Luisa Dörr / Save the Children

Why adolescent nutrition must not be ignored

11 Oct 2023 Global

Blog by Silvia Alayón

Lead Advisor Nutrition

Blog by Frances Mason

Senior Nutrition Advisor

At this week's Global Forum for Adolescents, Save the Children is urging governments to turn the tide on intergenerational malnutrition.

Cousins Anabely, 11, and Maria Elena, 12, eating fruit at school in Quiche district, Guatemala. Luisa Dörr / Save the Children.

We stand side by side with children in the world's toughest places.

When I feel extremely hungry, I am afraid of dying. When I fall asleep, I am afraid that I may not wake up again because I am too weak.” Rova*, 17, Madagascar.  

No child should ever have such fears. Yet, even in higher-income countriesadolescent wellbeing is often neglected.

Tackling adolescent nutrition provides an unparalleled opportunity to turn the tide on intergenerational malnutrition and build a healthier generation.

As adolescents, advocates and leaders come together this week at the Global Forum for Adolescents on the 11-12th October, we urge governments to increase investment in adolescent nutrition. This investment should support improved adolescent health todaytheir health and well-being in adulthood, and ensure the healthy growth and development of the next generation.  

Good nutrition supports healthy futures. 

Adolescence is a period of rapid growth and developmentincreased nutrient needs and a change in eating patterns. Yet nutritious foods are not always accessible to adolescents.

As they experience autonomytheir peers and social media increasingly influence what they eat, often resulting in low consumption of essential fruits and vegetables

What makes this worse is that food systems in many countries are shifting from providing whole and nutrient-dense foods to convenient or fast foods, which tend to be higher in salt, fat, and sugarConsumption of these foods place adolescents at risk of becoming overweight or obese, which can result in heart disease or diabetes later in life.  

The world’s adolescents are at a nutritional tipping point.

49 million adolescent girls are underweight, with no reduction in this figure seen since 2000and globally one in four adolescents is anaemic. At the same time, the number of adolescents overweight and obese is escalating. 

The lack of food and inequality of distribution led to my brothers and me developing anaemia because my father was unable to buy meat and fruit for us and there was a lack of safe drinking water.” Farah*, 15, from Syria living in Lebanon. 

Adolescent mothers (of which there are 12 million each year) are more likely to face complications during pregnancy and childbirth, give birth to low birthweight babies, and even have an increased risk of death for themselves and their baby. These risks are compounded if young mothers are also malnourished  

In contrast, good nutrition during adolescence allows young people to enter adulthood in good health and to be able to contribute meaningfully to their families and communitiesLuckily, during adolescence young people are open to adopting new behaviours. This providean opportunity to establish healthy habits, such as regular physical activity, to achieve their maximum growth potential and enjoy good health. 

Forget, a Community Nutrition Champion in Malawi. Fredrik Lerneryd / Save the Children

Forget, a Community Nutrition Champion in Malawi. Fredrik Lerneryd / Save the Children. Fredrik Lerneryd / Save the Children

Ahead of the 2023 Global Forum for Adolescents, Save the Children launched the Adolescent Health & Nutrition Index which describes the gaps in government policies to support adolescents in 75 Low- and Middle-Income countries and maps these against the health, nutrition and gender context in each country. 

As Webster Makombe, Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Youth Leader, said in his speech at the launch of the Index: 

 

The 75 country snapshots from the index indicate the need for strengthened financial support for adolescent policy frameworks, particularly nutritional financing. Adolescence is the second window of opportunity after the first 1,000 days to correct any nutritional inadequacies. Investment in adolescent nutrition is an investment into the future.”  

It’s time to listen to adolescents.   

The Global Forum for Adolescents provides an opportunity for governments to listen to the recommendations from adolescents around the world. Addressing adolescent nutrition doesn’t just benefit the child, in the long-term it benefits the governments’ budgets too. They should:    

  1. Partner with adolescents to develop an adolescent-specific social behaviour change communications strategy and plan.   

  1. Provide adolescents with access to nutrition services through multiple platforms – not only through school meals, but also through the health sector and community programmes to ensure access for all adolescents, including first time parents and out-of-school youth. 

  1. Provide adolescent-responsive ante-natal care to adolescent mothers.  

  1. Invest in data on adolescents, their nutritional needs, nutrition behaviours, and nutritional status. 

  1. Ensure sufficient financial commitment to enable the above. 

  1. Track adolescent nutrition policies and strategies using indicators to measure impacts for adolescents and enable adolescents to hold governments to account. 

The clock is ticking... 

With seven years remaining to fulfil adolescents’ right to health and meet the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, this great opportunity where adolescents are centre stage is one that cannot be ignored.

Governments, policy makers, donors and civil society must work together in partnership with adolescents to meet the nutrition needs of the world’s 1.3 billion adolescents and support future generations to be free from malnutrition. 

Found this blog interesting? Read our other recent publications

Related Blogs