Urgent action needed to combat stunting, overweight and obesity
Asia’s cities are growing at such a fast pace that nearly 55 percent of the region’s enormous population is expected to reside in urban areas by 2030, and that will have equally enormous consequences for urban food security and nutrition, according to the main findings of a new report by four United Nations agencies.
But the threat is not only a future concern, the results are being felt now, according to the ‘Asia and the Pacific Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition 2022 – Urban Food Systems and Nutrition’. Published jointly each year, the “SOFI” report is prepared by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The convergence of an increase in low-income settlements, the rising costs of food and the need for developing an urban food agenda that takes into account infrastructure, transport, clean water and waste management are posing new challenges to planners and national policymakers across the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region.
Nearly 75 million children below the age of five in Asia and the Pacific are stunted, amounting to half of the world’s total. Ten percent are affected by wasting, while poor diet quality also drives overall increases in child overweight and obesity.
Food security and nutrition in the urban context will determine progress, or lack thereof, towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goal to eliminate hunger (SDG2) and the World Health Assembly (WHA) 2030 targets on food security and nutrition.
Among older children and adults, obesity continues to rise in every country of this region. The Pacific Island Countries have the highest prevalence of overweight and obesity in the world. No country in Asia and the Pacific is on track to meet the WHA target of no increase in adult obesity.
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