A/HRC/19/73 characterized by skyrocketing prices for basic foodstuffs,4 and the recent famine in the Horn of Africa5 add to the urgency of understanding the linkages between severe malnutrition and childhood diseases from a human rights perspective. 6. Second, the host of human rights which are at stake in the context of severe malnutrition and childhood diseases need to be identified in order for the international community to address in a comprehensive reply the symptoms and root causes of the problem. It is imperative, as the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and United Nations Special Rapporteurs have emphasized, to pay particular attention to the most vulnerable individuals and groups and their access to food that should satisfy their dietary needs.6 Surely, children affected by malnutrition are such a vulnerable group, while children affected by or at risk of noma are among the most vulnerable. A human rights analysis of severe malnutrition and childhood diseases, including noma, helps us understand that the rights of children and other individuals – as opposed to privileges which can be given and taken – and obligations of States and international organizations under international law – as opposed to voluntary commitments – are centre stage. A. Malnutrition and childhood diseases: vulnerable groups and their human rights 7. According to WHO, malnutrition essentially means “bad nourishment” and can refer to the quantity as well as the quality of food eaten.7 In medical terms, malnutrition is explained as a state of nutrition in which inadequate intake of calories, proteins, nutrients – including vitamins – causes adverse effects on tissue and/or body functions. 8 It includes both undernutrition and overnutrition.9 While the latter has also become a concern in recent years for developing countries,10 the current report will focus on the undernutrition aspect of malnutrition in children. As such, malnutrition in children is the consequence of a range 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 4 malnutrition”, 16 March 2011. Available from www.who.int/nutrition/pressnote_action_on_malnutrition/en/index.html. WHO, “The Global Food Crisis: Implications for the Health of People in the African Region”, 2008; Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2008: High Food Prices and Food Security – Threats and Opportunities (Rome, 2008); United Nations Children‟s Fund (UNICEF), A Matter of Magnitude: The Impact of the Economic Crisis on Women and Children in South Asia (June 2009); FAO, The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2010: Addressing food insecurities in protracted crises (Rome, 2010). Kun Li, “Amidst regional drought, malnutrition imperils thousands of refugee children in Dadaab, Kenya”, UNICEF, 15 July 2011, available from www.unicef.org/infobycountry/kenya_59238.html; AlertNet, “MSF acts on malnutrition and drought in Horn of Africa”, 11 July 2011, http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/msf-acts-on-malnutrition-and-drought-in-horn-of-africa/. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 12 on the right to adequate food; reports of the Special Rapporteurs on the right to food, A/HRC/9/23, A/HRC/4/30 and A/62/289. WHO, “Malnutrition”. Available from www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/diseases/malnutrition/en/. Ed. M. J. Gibney et al., Clinical Nutrition, Nutrition Society Textbook Series (Wiley-Blackwell, 2005), pp. 1–2. See M. de Onis, M. Blössner, E. Borghi, “Global prevalence and trends of overweight and obesity among preschool children”, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, vol. 92, No. 5, 2010, pp. 1257– 64. FAO, The double burden of malnutrition. Case studies from six developing countries, FAO Food and Nutrition Paper 84 (Rome, 2006).