Global Nutrition Report 2017 finds overweight and obesity to be global health problems

Global Nutrition Report 2017 finds overweight and obesity to be global health problems

“The world faces a grave nutrition situation” says the Global Nutrition Report 2017 released recently. It shows that malnutrition, whether due to undernutrition or obesity, is prevalent in almost all countries around the world, which is hampering the broader global development efforts. The report, which studied 140 countries including India, further highlights the need for an urgent, integrated response to meet any of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The Report found ‘significant burdens’ of three important forms of malnutrition used as a indicator of broader trends:

• Childhood stunting
• Anemia in women of reproductive age
• Overweight adult women

Most countries (88%) face the burden of two or three of these forms of malnutrition. Some key observations of the Report are:

• Overweight and obesity are on the rise in almost every country; 2 billion adults are now overweight or obese. There is less than 1% chance of meeting the global target of halting the rise in obesity and diabetes by 2025.
• At least 41 million children under five are overweight, with the problem affecting high and lower income countries alike
• At least 10 million children in Africa are now classified as overweight. One third of North American men (33%) and women (34%) are obese.
• Although undernutrition rates are declining, it is not enough to meet the internationally agreed nutrition goals, including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) target 2.2 to end all forms of malnutrition by 2030.
• 155 million children under five are stunted; Africa is the only region where absolute numbers are rising, due to population growth
• 52 million children worldwide are defined as wasted, meaning they do not weigh enough for their height.
• 2 billion people lack key micronutrients like iron and vitamin A
• Anemia rates are rising globally in women of reproductive age. More than half of all women of reproductive age in India have anemia with India.

(Source: Global Nutrition Report, November 3, 2017)