The culprits are mainly climate change and the promotion of unhealthy food and drink.
The alarming conclusion comes from the World Health Organization together with the non-profit organization Unicef in a new report, published in The Lancet. In the study, the researchers focused on 180 countries and compared issues such as health, nutrition and sustainability. Greenhouse gas emissions, equality and income differences in each country were also studied. And the findings show that no country sufficiently guarantees the health, living environment and future of children.
Climate change
First of all, this is due to the constant climate change. This was also apparent from earlier research, in which researchers found that the effects of the changing climate are very harmful to children’s health. While poor countries should do more to help children lead healthy lives, the excessive carbon emissions of rich countries pose a significant threat to their future. “More than two billion people live in countries where development is hampered by humanitarian crises, conflicts, natural disasters and problems related to climate change,” concludes Awa Coll-Seck; Minister of Senegal and Co-President of the Commission. If we continue at the current rate, the earth would have been heated by around 4 degrees Celsius by 2100. This has devastating health consequences, according to the WHO and Unicef. Consider, for example, the impact of rising sea levels, heat waves, food shortages, and the spread of diseases such as malaria and dengue fever.
Unhealthy food and drink
At the same time, children’s health is under pressure from youth-targeted advertisements of fast food, sugary drinks, alcohol and tobacco. There are indications that children in some countries see no fewer than 30,000 advertisements on television in just one year. And then the amount of advertising that children are bombarded with on social media is not even included. This commercial marketing exposure of unhealthy eating and drinking can be directly linked to health issues such as being overweight. The number of obese children has already increased from 11 million in 1975 to 124 million in 2016. That is no less than an eleven-fold increase.
The Netherlands
The report shows that – despite the fact that all countries fall short – one country scores slightly better than the other. It appears that Norway, Korea and also the Netherlands score best when it comes to children’s health. Young people living in the Central African Republic, Chad, Somalia, Niger and Mali appear to be in the worst position. Although our own country has ended up high on the list, we should not cheer too early. We score remarkably poorly on the list of most sustainable countries and have to do with only 160th place. We emit 210 percent more CO2 per capita than our target for 2030. And that, in turn, endangers the health of our children.
Top ten of the best and worst scoring countries. Image: The Lancet
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Recommendations
According to the researchers, the conclusions are particularly worrying. “Despite improvements in children’s health over the past 20 years, progress has now come to a halt and we are plummeting again,” said former New Zealand prime minister and co-chair of the Helen Clark Commission. “Countries need to think again about how to ensure children’s health. Moreover, we must not only take care of the children of today, but also protect the world that they will inherit in the future. ” The experts therefore make a number of recommendations in the report. They are:
1) Reduce CO2 emissions so that children have a future on this planet
2) Putting children at the center of our sustainable development efforts
3) Implement measures to work on children’s health and rights in all sectors
4) Including children’s voices in policy decisions
5) Tightening up national rules regarding harmful commercial marketing
The researchers hope that the report will encourage world leaders to change. “The report shows that decision makers from all over the world are failing; they do not protect the health of their children, their rights or the planet, ”says Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on behalf of the World Health Organization. “This should wake up and encourage countries to invest more in children’s health and development, to ensure that their voices are heard, their rights are protected, and that a future suitable for them is worked on.”
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