Climate change will make child health crisis due to malnutrition even worse: Bill Gates
An estimated 40 million more children will be stunted and 28 million more will suffer from wasting between now and 2050, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has said in a report.
Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates has sounded the alarm over what he calls. “The world’s worst child health crisis” – Malnutrition.
This crisis will get dramatically worse in the coming decades because of climate change, according to a new report from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The report estimates that by 2050, an additional 40 million children will experience stunting, while 28 million will suffer from wasting, the most severe and irreversible form of malnutrition.
These conditions not only impede physical and mental development, but also increase susceptibility to diseases such as measles and malaria, potentially leading to premature death.
Gates stressed the vital importance of proper nutrition during pregnancy and early childhood, saying, “Unless you get the right food in the womb and in your early years, you can never move forward.”They highlighted that nearly 90% of the negative impacts on child health due to climate change are caused by disruptions in food systems, such as crop failures due to drought or excessive rainfall.
The Gates Foundation is calling for increased funding and research in nutrition, particularly through initiatives such as the Child Nutrition Fund, a UNICEF-led platform aimed at coordinating donor funding.
Gates emphasized the need for innovative measures, such as fortifying foods and better access to prenatal multivitamins, which he believes could be as effective as some vaccines in improving the health of children in the world’s poorest countries.
Currently, the World Health Organization estimates that 148 million children are stunted and 45 million are wasted. To combat this growing crisis, the Gates Foundation has pledged to spend a record $6.8 billion on global health initiatives this year.
As climate change continues to threaten food security and nutrition around the world, the Foundation’s report points to the urgent need for targeted interventions and increased global cooperation to protect the health and futures of millions of vulnerable children.
