A new report from an aid agency has warned that subsequent efforts in tackling child undernutrition in some of the world's toughest countries is under threat as military and security funding is taking precedence.
The number of children under five who die every year has decreased by half since 1990. Yet, World Vision's Fragile but not Helpless report finds that this progress is under threat.
Countries marred by conflict or fragility have some of the highest rates of acute and chronic undernutrition cases in the world.
Robert Zachritz, senior director of Government Relations and Advocacy at World Vision, said that striving for peace is vital but that shouldn't mean pooling all our resources into security and sidelining basic needs like nutrition.
Though in many cases child undernutrition is well above acceptable thresholds, nearly two-thirds of fragile and conflict-affected states have not joined up to the global movement to tackle nutrition, known as Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN).
Undernutrition contributes to the deaths of more than two million children every year. Globally, 165 million children, or one in four of all children under five, are stunted due to undernutrition, chronically undernourished and at risk of long-lasting damage to their cognitive and physical development.