Recent Estimates Suggest Tens of Thousands of Children Aged Under Five Suffering Acute Malnutrition in Gaza
October 8, 2025
Introduction:
(Eurekalert) More than 54,600 children in Gaza are estimated to be acutely malnourished, including over 12,800 severely so, with few therapeutic options available to them. With measurements up to the middle of August 2025, the study comprehensively tracks wasting among children during the war, estimates population prevalence, and highlights unprecedented increases in child malnutrition following periods of blockades and severe aid restrictions.
Published in The Lancet, the study was led by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). Between January 2024 and mid-August 2025, UNRWA staff screened 219,783 children aged 6-59 months, measuring mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) at 16 functioning health centres and 78 medical points in shelters and tented encampments across five governorates in the Gaza Strip. The researchers then estimated the prevalence of acute malnutrition, based on the total estimated number of children in that age group in the territory (346,000).
Based on evidence of child malnutrition collected from multiple aid agencies, on 15 August 2025 the UN Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) confirmed famine in the Governate of Gaza City, with the rest of the Gaza Strip facing critical conditions or the prospect of famine. The study reenforces the IPC’s confirmation of famine in Gaza City Governorate, and provides evidence of how child malnutrition has evolved during the war.
Wasting, or acute malnutrition, is defined as a child being too thin for their height, indicating rapid weight loss and severe lack of energy, protein and other nutrients. Wasting can also be assessed by measuring the circumference of a child’s upper arm with a calibrated tape, as done in this study, with a thin arm highly correlating to a thin body. It is a life-threatening condition, and children require regular treatment with therapeutic food over several weeks, or in extreme cases and when possible, hospitalisation.
During the 20-month surveillance period, the number of MUAC screenings varied from 722 to 23,651 per month. Prevalence of wasting in January 2024 was 4.7% (34 out of 722 children), rising to 8.9% (1,281/14,387) in July 2024. The end of 2024 saw severe aid restrictions, with UN sources reporting daily averages of 42 to 92 aid trucks per day crossing into Gaza, compared to 300 to 600 per day pre-war. In January 2025, prevalence of wasting was 14.3% (1,661/11,619).
Read more here:
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1100998
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