Climate Change Will Escalate Child Health Crisis Due to Malnutrition, Says Gates
14:00 JST, September 25, 2024
LONDON (Reuters) — Malnutrition is the world’s worst child health crisis, and climate change will only make things more severe, according to Microsoft-cofounder-turned-philanthropist Bill Gates.
Between now and 2050, 40 million more children will have stunted growth and 28 million more will suffer from wasting, the most extreme and irreversible forms of malnutrition, as a result of climate change, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation said in a report on Sept. 17.
“Unless you get the right food, broadly, both in utero and in your early years, you can never catch up,” Gates told Reuters in an online interview earlier this month, referring to a child’s physical and mental capacity, both of which are held back by a lack of good nutrition. Children without enough of the right food are also more vulnerable to diseases like measles and malaria, as well as early death.
“Around 90% of the negative effect of climate change works through the food system. Where you have years where your crops basically fail because of drought or too much rain,” he said.
Gates was speaking ahead of the publication of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s annual Goalkeepers report, which tracks progress on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), around reducing poverty and improving health. The report includes the projections above.
In 2023, the World Health Organization estimated that 148 million children experienced stunting and 45 million experienced wasting.
Gates called for more funding for nutrition, particularly through a new platform led by UNICEF aiming to coordinate donor financing, the Child Nutrition Fund, as well as more research. But he said the money should not be taken away from other proven initiatives, like routine childhood vaccinations, for this purpose.
“[Nutrition] was under-researched … it’s eye-opening how important this is,” he added, saying initiatives like food fortification or improving access to prenatal multivitamins could be as effective as some vaccines in improving child health in the world’s poorest countries.
The Gates Foundation said in January it plans to spend more on global health this year than ever before — $8.6 billion — as wider funding efforts stall.
"Science & Nature" POPULAR ARTICLE
-
Polish Families Pick through Debris after Floods Wash Away Homes
-
Parkinson’s Patients to Receive Gut Bacteria Transplants, in Clinical 1st for Japan
-
Ukraine’s Forests Devastated in Hellscape of War
-
CO2 Capture Technologies Advancing with Eye on Climate Change; New Technologies Include Absorption Coating Compound for Concrete
-
Osaka-Kansai Expo: Robot Avatars to be Operated by Online Visitors; Hopes to Show Barrier-free Future in Japan
JN ACCESS RANKING
- Streaming Services Boost Anime Popularity Overseas; Former ‘Geeky’ Interest More Beloved Among Gen Z than 3 Major U.S. Sports
- JICA Employee Suspected of Leaking Info on ODA Project in Manila; Bidding for Railway Renovation May Have Been Impacted
- G20 Sees Soft Landing for Global Economy; Leaders Pledge to Resist Protectionism as Trump Calls for Imported Goods Flat Tariff
- Japanese Automakers Team Up on Software Development; Aim to Compete with U.S., China in SDV Market
- 2024 POLLS: Ruling Camp Likely to Win Lower House Majority