The World Health Organization logo and the WHO headquarters building were photographed in Geneva, Switzerland, in May 2023. Geneva, March 1 (Xinhua) -- The World Health Organization quoted a study published in the British journal The Lancet on the 1st that more than 1 billion people around the world will suffer from obesity in 2022. Between 1990 and 2022, the number of adults with obesity more than doubled globally, and the number of children and adolescents (aged 5 to 19) with obesity increased by about three times.
The research data shows that in 2022, there will be 15.9 billion children and adolescents and 87.9 billion adults are obese and 43% are overweight. As the number of underweight people decreases, being overweight has become the most common form of malnutrition in most countries.
Malnutrition includes forms of nutritional deficiencies (wasting, stunting, underweight), vitamin or mineral insufficiency, overweight, and obesity. Undernutrition is the cause of death in half of all children under 5 years of age, while obesity can lead to noncommunicable diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and certain cancers.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the new study highlights the importance of preventing and controlling obesity from early life to adulthood through diet, physical activity and proper care. Achieving the global goal of ending obesity requires countries** and related areas to work with policy support from WHO and national public health agencies. It is also important for the private sector to cooperate, and they must be held accountable for the health effects of their products.
According to WHO recommendations, core interventions to curb obesity in children and adolescents include supporting and promoting breastfeeding, regulating the marketing of foods and beverages that are harmful to children, and regulating the sale of high-fat, high-sugar and high-salt products near schools.
The report also notes that despite the decline in undernourished rates, undernutrition remains a public health challenge in many places, particularly in parts of South-East Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.