Leading Causes of Malnutrition and Diseases Worldwide-Report | Global Development

Addressing malnutrition requires a reassessment of the world’s food and health systems, according to a new analysis. Malnutrition is currently the leading cause of health and death worldwide.

of Global Nutrition Report 2020 The inability of most people around the world to access or buy healthy foods due to an agricultural system that prioritizes calories over nutrition and the universality and low cost of highly processed foods I understand. It says there are inequalities inside and outside the country.

The report found that one in nine were hungry, or 820 million worldwide, but one in three were overweight or obese. An increasing number of countries have a “double burden” of malnutrition, obesity, and other diet-related illnesses such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer.

David Navarro, a special representative of the United Nations Secretary of Food Security, warned that the report written before the coronavirus pandemic was “increasing in importance” and warned: The gains they make on reducing hunger and malnutrition will be lost. “

Last month, the UN had a pandemic Double the number Of people facing serious hunger worldwide.

In the preamble, Navarro said that malnourished people are more likely to be at risk of coronavirus due to a weakened immune system, and obesity and diabetes are associated with worse outcomes.

Coronaviruses exposed “vulnerabilities and weaknesses in already vulnerable food systems” that had been weakened by extreme climate and “fatal medical disparities”.

In the world’s poorest countries, they remain unable to gain weight and are reported at rates up to 10 times higher than in the richest countries. On the other hand, the proportion of overweight and obesity is up to five times higher in wealthier countries than in developing countries. Healthcare costs to treat obesity outcomes are “amazing,” with an estimated total bill of $ 1.2 trillion a year by 2025, and the United States is by far the largest consumer, the report says ..

According to last year’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC) report, the conclusions of this report reflect calls for climate scientists to transform food and land management. Poor land use It accounts for a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions.

Cynthia Rosenzweig, climate expert at the Nasa Goddard Institute for Space Studies and author of the Food Security chapter of the IPCC’s Report on Land and Climate Change, said: “For countries, international organizations and NGOs, they are calling for action and create a transformation of the whole system, the food system.

“Malnutrition is a threat multiplier. I think that malnourished people are likely to have a weakened immune system.”

She emphasized food price inequality around the world. The cost of eggs in Burkina Faso is 15 times higher than that of grains and rice, compared to twice the cost of such staple foods in the United States.

Rosenzweig urged governments and policy makers to “take the moment” to build an equitable and sustainable food and health system in response to a pandemic.

Not one country is on track to achieve all 10 of the 2025 Global Nutrition Goals, only eight out of 194 are on track to reach four goals. is.

Bencatesh Mannar, a special adviser in nutrition at the Tata Trust and Tata Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition, said: “Poor eating habits and malnutrition are not a matter of personal choice. Most people cannot do this because of inequality in their food systems. They don’t have access to a variety of health foods. Food supply chains and consumption The interface between people is unfair. “

“I believe this crisis will highlight the need to seriously consider all forms of malnutrition and do so in parallel with our pandemic efforts.”