Unprotected childhood lost future

One of the most basic indicators of economic development and social equity is the state of child and adolescent nutrition. And that is precisely because The effects of a sustained nutritional deficiency during the period of a person’s maturation development are very serious and irrecoverable.

As a report from the Organization of American States points out: “The effects of malnutrition in early childhood (0 to 8 years) can be devastating and long-lasting. They can impede behavioral and cognitive development, school performance and reproductive health, thus weakening future productivity at work. Since the Growth retardation occurs almost exclusively during the intrauterine period and in the first 2 years of life, it is important that interventions to prevent atrophy, anemia or xerophthalmia occur at an early age.”

Chronic pathologies associated with sustained malnutrition are difficult medical or pharmacological treatment, and harm the ability of adults to engage in a full work and social life, thereby reinforcing the marginalization that they may have throughout their lives.

For this reason, any state policy on social equity must primarily address the quality of nutrition of children and adolescents in the period of maturation development. And this is directly influenced by economic policies, particularly by income policy, because it is the systematic drop in the income of the most vulnerable sectors, which has dramatic effects on their nutritional basket.

In the eighth report on the Situation of Children and Adolescents, by Unicef ​​Argentina, some dramatic data regarding the issue are pointed out: “Girls, boys and adolescents in Argentina face multiple challenges. Towards the end of 2023 – latest data available – 58.5% lived in poverty. 18.9%, in conditions of extreme poverty (EPH-INDEC). That is, they are born and grow up in homes where income is not enough to acquire the basic goods and services for existence/5/. In other words, Only 31% of girls, boys, and adolescents in the country are free from all forms of poverty.

And the most dramatic thing about the report is that, when compared with previous years, there is a significant upward curve between 2022 and 2024, the total number of households in which monthly income does not allow them to cover current expenses grew by 33%. 48%, and in the case of households that receive the AUH That growth was, in that same period, from 52% to 65%; The response of families to this brutal drop in income is, as the report points out, “In the most sensitive cases, what is restricted is food consumption. In 52% of cases, households had to stop buying some food due to lack of money, 11 points more than in 2023 and the highest value of the entire series”.

And this becomes much more dramatic when it is noted that the number of households that had to change their spending on food, lowering its quality and quantity, went from 28% in 2020 to 52% in 2024.

This nutritional decline implies both consuming lower quality foods, basically nutrient-poor carbohydrates. And the report cites “More than 1 million girls and boys had to skip a daily meal (breakfast, lunch, snack or dinner) due to lack of money (7.4% of the total).” This is the most brutal form of social inequality. The child or adolescent with nutritional deficiencies will later be an adult with physiological and cognitive deficiencies, and at that moment there will be no state policy that can repair it, in addition to being inevitably condemned to depending on public assistance in the form of financial assistance from Some kind.

In other words, the most equitable way, and even the most economical considering the entire life span of a person, is to improve the quality and quantity of the food matrix of children and adolescents, thus allowing their maturational development to be complete. and that it does not harm your future possibilities as an adult.

But the indicators of the cited report for the year 2024 are dramatic and growing, which leads us to wonder about the social cost of an adjustment plan that seems to have no intention of ending. Perhaps it is due to the absence of a comprehensive view of economic problems and social inequalities, which the La Libertad Avanza government has as its guiding model.

Master in Communication, Culture and Media Speeches. (UNLAM). Graduate in Social Communication (UNLAM). Professor in History. Writer. Published book “Fake News: All news is false until proven otherwise”