The epidemic of childhood obesity that has been at work for more than thirty years does not seem to be running out of steam, quite the contrary. According to official figures, the number of obese children is even increasing alarmingly. This would be the fault of the governments, whose efforts would not be sufficient.
Childhood obesity has been around for a long time, but it rose quite sharply in the mid-1980s. Currently, there are about 150 million 'obese children worldwide. According to the World Obesity Federation, which communicated its figures to the Guardian in an article from October 2, 2019, this number should reach 250 million by 2030!
The World Health Organization (WHO) has launched a goal that states have committed to achieve. This is to stop the increase in the number of cases childhood obesity between 2010 and 2025. However, according to the WHO and the World Federation Against Obesity, only one country in ten has a 50% chance of achieving this same objective. Worse still, 156 out of 191 countries would only have a 10% chance of succeeding.
Remember that obese children have a greater risk of developing heart disease and type 2 diabetes in adulthood. According to the World Obesity Federation, this perpetual increase could well overwhelm health services many countries. In other words, the right of children to enjoy good health would no longer be guaranteed.
On the cause side, we obviously have the omnipresence of junk food orchestrated by the agri-food industry and major retailers. To this, let us add, among other things, the generalization of transport as well as the time spent in front of screens, which do not promote physical activity. However, government efforts would not be sufficient to preserve the health of the youngest.
The World Obesity Federation believes that governments do little or nothing. However, the problem would be on the side of health issues colliding with economic interests within the political sphere. However, not taking enough action against this epidemic of childhood obesity could end up costing much more.
In 2018, we also mentioned the fact that childhood obesity would also be linked to air pollution. According to the WHO, more than 90% of children in the world would breathe poor quality air, and the organization relied on an American study whose conclusions are unflattering. The results made it possible to understand thatup to the age of 10 , children exposed to nitrogen dioxide were at least one kilogram heavier than other children.
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