Asia's children starve as planet burns: UNICEF sounds alarm on surging child malnutrition in Asia
SINGAPORE: Children appeared to be the most defenceless victims as climate change continues to drain food and health systems across Asia. In the latest CNA report, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) warned that climate disturbances are making the malnutrition issue worse, even in fast-developing areas, with dreadful costs to the physical and cognitive development of millions of young lives. Climate change hits food and health systems hard
Roland Kupka, UNICEF's regional nutrition adviser for East Asia and the Pacific, stressed the mounting risk during his speech at Ecosperity Week, a sustainability forum initiated by Temasek in Singapore. Kupka emphasised how climate change has weakened both food and healthcare systems, accelerating the increase in infection rates that diminish essential nutrients from children's bodies, and cutting both the existing quality and quantity of food.
'Climate change is impairing food systems,' Kupka stated. 'It's hard to talk about climate action without putting children and their nutrition at the centre.' A growing nutrition gap
Notwithstanding Asia's economic advancement, approximately 19 million children all over the continent continue to be persistently underfed. Kupka indicated a disconcerting twofold problem — extensive lack of vitamins and minerals on one side, and growing rates of childhood obesity on the other. This disparity, he clarified, is entrenched in insufficient access to nourishing food, availability of healthcare amenities, and knowledgeable nutritional practices.
'Children need access to the right diets, services, and practices,' said Kupka. 'And governments need support to design the right policies to confront all forms of malnutrition.' Financing and policy: Breaking through structural barriers
Inadequate and ill-targeted funding is one of the major impediments to meaningful development. Kupka called for new mechanisms that can evaluate financing requirements and spur the production and delivery of nourishing foods in vulnerable regions. For example, UNICEF's Child Nutrition Fund intends to fast-track workable agendas to fight undernutrition all over Asia and elsewhere.
'Governments must lead, but they can't do it alone,' he said, highlighting the role of humanitarians and sponsors in steering pioneering models that can later be scaled by public organisations. Innovation and resilience
Kupka encouraged Asian countries to seize and take advantage of state-of-the-art possibilities and not to repeat the mistakes of other regions that were unsuccessful in adapting to life-threatening climate effects. With that, Asia could become a worldwide frontrunner in combining climate flexibility and child sustenance into workable development policies.
'With the region's capacity for innovation, there is real potential to lead the world in climate action—and ensure no child is left behind,' he concluded.
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