Bini Dahal
In its latest report ‘The State of the World’s Children: food, nutrition and children’, UNICEF has warned that unhealthy diets driven by poverty, urbanisation , climate change and poor eating choices have been causing damage to children’s health worldwide.
We have been quite familiar with this situation, but truly speaking, we never had the decency to ask ourselves, “So what will happen to the millions of children around the globe?”
Our perception about food has always been the same. We consider food to be a medium to fulfill our hunger and not something that is eaten for our health. So, when we feed our children, we consider very less about the nutrition. However, this is in context to the families from developed nations who have enough money to buy any kind of food they want.
The very basic foundation of a child’s growth and development is breastfeeding. But, according to the report, an increasing number of infants below six months are being fed instant formula with only 42 per cent of children worldwide being breastfed. After the transition from milk to soft or solid diet, the already weak children are introduced to a wrong diet that further brings complications to their body. And this unhealthy eating does not just end here. As children grow, they are exposed to ultra-processed foods, fast foods and highly carbonated and sweetened beverages that cause conditions of overweight and obesity.
Besides this, climate change is one of the major concerns and a reason of harsh food crisis. Drought is a direct effect of climate change that reduces agricultural production, lessens the quantity of food for families and raises the price of the food that is available
Malnutrition in particular is often used to refer to under nutrition. It has four major sub-categories: wasting, stunting, underweight and deficiencies in vitamins and minerals. And the UNICEF’s report shows statistical data of the number of children suffering from the various types of malnutrition. The report has concluded that out of 1.9 billion children that accounts for 27 per cent of the world population, 149 million children are too short for their age, 50 million are too thin for their height, 340 million are vitamin and nutrient-deficient and the remaining 40 million are overweight or obsessed.
Malnutrition has become today’s burning crisis and there is no doubt about this. So, it is important for governments, international organisations, and other various sectors to join forces to help children grow and develop healthy. Children of today are the change-makers of tomorrow. Their present cannot be neglected.
UNICEF has put forward several ways of coping with the problem. They include improving nutrition education, reducing demand for unhealthy foods and providing incentives for healthy, convenient and affordable foods, among others. Controlling marketing and advertisements of unhealthy foods, mobilising supportive systems such as health, water and sanitation, education and social protection and lastly tracking progress are also helpful points that governments around the world can follow to provide children a healthy life.
Like every problem has a solution to it, the malnourishment crisis can also come to an end if only we take the right step to end it. Let all of us advocate for a healthy and better world for the children.
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