Malnutrition is responsible for nearly half of all deaths of children under age 5, and, together with poor diets, is the number one driver of the global burden of disease. At least 57 countries experience serious levels of both undernutrition – including stunting and anemia – and adult overweight and obesity.
Malnutrition manifests itself in many different ways: as poor child growth and development; as individuals who are skin and bone or prone to infection; as those who carry too much weight or whose blood contains too much sugar, salt, fat or cholesterol; or those who are deficient in important vitamins or minerals.
Lawrence Haddad, co-chair of the Global Nutrition Report’s independent expert group and senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute, said: “One in three people suffer from some form of malnutrition. We now live in a world where being malnourished is the new normal. It is a world that we must all claim as totally unacceptable.”
The report also found that global GDP losses from malnutrition are greater than what was lost each year during the 2008-2010 financial crisis and an average of just 2% of low and middle income government budgets analysed in the report is allocated toward reducing undernutrtion.
The GNR along with the World Health Assembly established a number of targets to reduce the malnutrition crisis. These include:
- Achieve a 40 percent reduction in the number of children under 5 who are stunted.
- Reduce and maintain wasting in children under 5 at less than 5 percent.
- See no increase in overweight children under 5 years of age.
- Achieve a 50 percent reduction of anemia in women of reproductive age.
- Achieve a 30 percent reduction in low birth weight.
- Increase the rate of exclusive breastfeeding in the first 6 months to at least 50 percent.
- Halt the rise in prevalence of adult overweight, adult obesity and adult type 2 diabetes.
- Achieve a 30 percent reduction in salt intake (in adults).
The Global Nutrition Report is an annual independent stocktake of the state of the world’s nutrition. The Report aims to make it easier for governments and other stakeholders to actually make high impact commitments to end malnutrition in all its forms.
To read the report in full, click here.