Climate change will escalate the child health crisis due to malnutrition: Bill Gates

Bill Gates, co-chairman of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. File photo | Photo credit: Reuters

Malnutrition is the world’s worst child health crisis and climate change will only make matters worse, according to Microsoft co-founder-turned-philanthropist Bill Gates.

Between now and 2050, another 40 million children will be stunted and 28 million children will suffer from wasting, the most extreme and irreversible forms of malnutrition, due to climate change, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation said in a report on Tuesday. , September 17, 2024.

“Unless you get the right food, broadly speaking, both in utero and in your early years, you’ll never catch up,” Gates said. Reuters in an online interview last week, referring to a child’s physical and mental capabilities, both of which are hampered by a lack of proper nutrition. Children without enough good food are also more vulnerable to diseases such as measles and malaria, and to premature death.

“About 90% of the negative impact of climate change works through the food system. You have years where your crops actually fail because of drought or too much rain,” he said.

Gates spoke ahead of the release of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s annual Goalkeepers report, which tracks progress on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on reducing poverty and improving health. The report contains the above projections.

In 2023, the World Health Organization estimated that 148 million children experienced stunted growth and 45 million were wasted.

Gates called for more funding for nutrition, especially through a new UNICEF-led platform that aims to coordinate donor funding, the Child Nutrition Fund, and more research. But he said money for this purpose should not be taken away from other proven initiatives, such as routine childhood vaccinations.

“(Nutrition) is under-researched… it’s amazing how important this is,” he added, saying initiatives such as food fortification or improving access to prenatal multivitamins could be as effective as some vaccines in improving the health of children around the world. the world’s poorest countries.

The Gates Foundation said in January that it plans to spend more than ever before this year — $6.8 billion — on global health, as broader financing efforts stall.