５歳未満の子ども、３人に１人が栄養不良か過体重　ユニセフ

【パリＡＦＰ＝時事】世界の5歳未満の子ども約7億人のうち、3分の1が栄養不良または過体重で、その結果、生涯を通じて健康問題を抱えるリスクを負っている。国連児童基金（ユニセフ）のヘンリッタ・フォア事務局長が15日、2019年度版「世界子供白書」を発表し明らかにした。（写真は資料写真）
　同白書によると、かつては貧困層と富裕層の両極の問題だった栄養不足と過体重が、現在は貧困層と中所得国に集中する問題となっている。
　１９９０年から２０１５年の間に貧困国では栄養不足による発育阻害が約４０％減少したにもかかわらず、現在も４歳以下の子ども１億４９００万人が、年齢ごとの平均身長に満たないという。これは脳と体の発達を阻む臨床状態を示している。さらに５０００万人が、貧困による慢性消耗性の痩せに苦しんでいるという。
　また世界の５歳未満の子どもの半数は、ビタミンやミネラルなどの必須栄養素を十分摂取しておらず、ユニセフがいう「見えない飢餓」の状態にあることが、長期的な問題となっている。
　一方、発展途上の国々では過去３０年間にわたり、子どもの新たな栄養障害である過体重が急増。ユニセフの栄養プログラム責任者、ビクトル・アグアヨ氏はＡＦＰに対し、「低栄養、微量栄養素の不足、肥満の三つの問題が一つの国でみられるケースが増えており、時に一つの地域で、しばしば一つの家庭内で発生している」と述べた。同氏はまた体重過多や肥満の母親を持つ子どもは、発育不良で衰弱することがあると指摘した。
　全ての年齢層を見ると、世界で８億人以上が絶えず飢餓状態に置かれている一方で、２０億人が不適切な食べ物を取りすぎており、その結果、肥満、心臓病、糖尿病などが増加している。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2019/10/16-08:29）

A third of the world's nearly 700 million children under five years old are undernourished or overweight and face lifelong health problems as a consequence, according to a grim UN assessment of childhood nutrition released Tuesday.
If children eat poorly, they live poorly, said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore, unveiling the Fund's first State of the World's Children report since 1999.
We are losing ground in the fight for healthy diets.
Problems that once existed at opposite ends of the wealth spectrum have today converged in poor and middle-income countries, the report showed.
Despite a nearly 40 percent drop from 1990 to 2015 of stunting in poor countries, 149 million children four or younger are today still too short for their age, a clinical condition that impairs both brain and body development.
Another 50 million are afflicted by wasting, a chronic and debilitating thinness also born of poverty.
At the same time, half of youngsters across the globe under five are not getting essential vitamins and minerals, a long-standing problem UNICEF has dubbed hidden hunger.
Over the last three decades, however, another form of child malnutrition has surged across the developing world: excess weight.
This triple burden -- undernutrition, a lack of crucial micronutrients, obesity -- is increasingly found in the same country, sometimes in the same neighbourhood, and often in the same household, Victor Aguayo, head of UNICEF's nutrition programme, told AFP.
A mother who is overweight or obese can have children who are stunted or wasted.
Across all age groups, more than 800 million people in the world are constantly hungry and another two billion are eating too much of the wrong foods, driving epidemics of obesity, heart disease and diabetes.
- 'Hidden hunger' -
Among children under five, diet during first 1,000 days after conception is the foundation for physical health and mental development.
And yet, only two-in-five infants under six months are exclusively breastfed, as recommended. Sales of milk-based formula have risen worldwide by 40 percent, and in upper middle-income countries such as Brazil, China and Turkey by nearly three-quarters.
Missing vitamins and minerals, meanwhile, can lead to compromised immune systems, poor sight and hearing defects. A lack of iron can cause anaemia and reduced IQ.
It's 'hidden' because you don't notice the impact until it is too late, Brian Keeley, editor-in-chief of report, told AFP.
You don't notice that the child is running a little slower than everyone else, struggling a bit in school.
The rise of obesity, however, is plain to see.
The problem was virtually non-existent in poor countries 30 years ago, but today at least 10 percent of under five year olds are overweight or obese in three-quarters of low-income nations.
There needs to be a focus on obesity before it is too late, said Keeley. Unless you deal with it in a preventative way, you're going to struggle to fix it later on.
Cheap, readily available junk food, often marketed directly to kids, has made the problem much worse.
Children are eating too much of what they don't need -- salt, sugar and fat, Keeley added.
Progress in fighting undernourishment will also be hampered by climate change, the report warned.
- Tax sugary drinks -
A single degree Celsius of warming since the late-19th century has amplified droughts responsible for more than 80 percent of damage and losses in agriculture.
Earth's average surface temperature is set to rise another two or three degrees by 2100.
Research by scientists at Harvard University, meanwhile, have shown that the increased concentration of CO2 in the air is sapping staple food crops of those essential nutrients and vitamins, including zinc, iron and vitamin B.
The impacts of climate change are completely transforming the food that is available and that can be consumed, Aguayo said.
Making sure every child has access to a healthy diet must become a political priority if widespread malnutrition is to be conquered, especially in developing countries, the report said.
Taxes on sugary foods and beverages; clear, front-of-package labelling; regulating the sale of breast milk substitutes; limiting the advertising and sale of 'junk food' near schools -- these and other measures could make a difference, it concluded.
The way we understand and respond to malnutrition needs to change, said Fore.
It is not just about getting children enough to eat. It is above all about getting them to eat the right food.
The recent rise of awareness about the danger of global warming is instructive, the authors said.
Just as we have organised a movement around climate change, we need to mobilise civil society, said Aguayo. If our children are not fed healthy diets, we are putting a huge question mark on the future of our societies.