Link to Article: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/3/abandons-its-people-guatemalas-malnutrition-crisis-deepens
Guatemala is having a malnutrition crisis. It is estimated that half of all children under five are malnourished. This is in part due to over fifty percent of the country living in poverty. Many politicians in Guatemala run for office and say that they will fix the issues of malnutrition but they do not. The government has set aside millions of dollars to combat child malnutrition but much of that money is nor being used. The Guatemala health ministry has only used around two percent of their budget allotted for fighting childhood malnutrition.
Guatemala is a relatively poor country and thus much of their country lives beneath the poverty line. This causes many families to go hungry. Many of these families do not have enough food so that they can feed themselves and their families. With over half of children under five being malnourished this will cause many issues for the country in the future. The two hurricanes that hit in 2020 coupled with COVID have been absolutely crippling for Guatemala. The government is also not spending all of the budget that they have allotted to fight these issues. This may mean that there is a lot of government corruption that is taking the money that should be used for fighting malnourishment of children for themselves.
The malnourishment of children could cause an issue in the future for Guatemala. If the children do not get the nutrients that they need it may cause them to die. This along with the widespread poverty may cause Guatemala to become a failed state. If this happens it could cause a humanitarian crisis for the surrounding countries. This would most likely make it so that the United States would have to get involved to fix this issue. This would also lead to the United Nations High Council for Refugees having to be involved to help with the refugee crisis that could happen in Guatemala.