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World Health Organization: Hunger Is the Major World Health Problem
Hunger is the major health risk globally, the World Health Organization (WHO) finds in a new study. Some 170 million children in poor countries are underweight, mainly from lack of food.
From more than 25 major preventable risks selected for in-depth study, the report finds that the top 10 globally are, in order of occurrence: 1) childhood and maternal underweight; 2) unsafe sex; 3) high blood pressure; 4) tobacco; 5) alcohol; 6) unsafe water, sanitation and hygiene; 7) high cholesterol; 8) indoor smoke from solid fuels; 9) iron deficiency; and 10) overweight/obesity. Together, they account for about 40 percent of the 56 million deaths that occur worldwide annually and one-third of global loss of healthy life years.
Poor people suffer much more than wealthy people from these diseases. WHO calls the contrast between rich and poor people “shocking.” The burden from many of the risks including unsafe water, sanitation and hygiene, and indoor smoke from solid fuels is borne almost exclusively by poor people in the developing world.
Ironically, more than one billion adults worldwide– in middle income and high income countries alike-- are overweight or obese. About one-half million people in North America and Western Europe die from overweight/obesity-related diseases every year. High cholesterol and high blood pressure are chronic conditions also associated with overeating and cause many deaths.
For Washington Post article on this report
Lane Vanderslice is editor of Hunger Notes
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