OPINION: Now Is the Time to Tackle Malnutrition and Its Massive Human Costs

Sadhana Ghimire, 23, makes sure to give her 18-month-old daughter nutritious food, such as porridge containing grains and pulses, in order to prevent stunting. Credit: Mallika Aryal/IPSBy José Graziano da Silva and Margaret ChanROME/GENEVA, Nov 13 2014 (IPS)The scourge of malnutrition affects the most vulnerable in society, and it hurts most in the earliest stages of life. Today, more than 800 million people are chronically hungry, about 11 percent of the global population.Undernutrition is the underlying cause of almost half of all child deaths, and a quarter of living children are stunted due to inadequate nutrition. Micronutrient deficiencies – due to diets lacking in vitamins and minerals, also known as “hidden hunger” – affects two billion people.Our food systems are simply not sustainable or healthy today, let alone in 2050, when we will have to feed more than nine billion people. We need to produce more food but also nutritious food and to do so in ways that safeguard the capacity of future generations to feed themselves.Another worrying form of malnutrition – obesity – is on the rise. More than 500 million adults are obese as a result of diets containing excess fat, sugars and salt.This exposes people to a greater risk of noncommunicable diseases – like heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer – now the top causes of death in the world. Poor diet and physical inactivity also account for 10 percent of the global burden of disease...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: Global & Universal Authors: Tags: Advancing Deserts Biodiversity Climate Change Development & Aid Economy & Trade Environment Food & Agriculture Global Global Governance Headlines Health IPS UN: Inside the Glasshouse Population Poverty & MDGs TerraViva United N Source Type: news