A recently released study from the United Nations Children Fund – UNICEF has shown a troubling statistic: five out of six children worldwide that are less than two years old are not receiving the proper nourishment required for proper growth and development. One way that the agency suggests to counteract this alarming fact is for mothers to breastfeed their children until they are at least two years old.
Key Takeaways:
- Childhood nutrition during the first two years of life is critical to development and survival, and though there has been a reduction in chronic malnutrition over the past 10 years, stunting continues to affect 156 million children under the age of 5.
- In all countries, rich and poor, breastfeeding gives children the best start and can save lives, yet too few children benefit.
- In order to provide nutritious and affordable foods to the poorest children in the world, governments and the private sector will need to engage in stronger and more targeted investments like cash or in-kind transfers to vulnerable families, crop diversification programmes, and fortifying foods that are critical to improving nutrition in young children.
“Childhood nutrition during the first two years of life is critical to development and survival, and though there has been a reduction in chronic malnutrition over the past 10 years, stunting continues to affect 156 million children under the age of 5, while at the other end of the spectrum, 42 million children are overweight or obese – an 11 million increase from 2000.”
https://www.google.com/url?rct=j&sa=t&url=http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp%3FNewsID%3D55298&ct=ga&cd=CAIyGjY3NzEzYzg1MjE0ZjUwYzU6Y29tOmVuOlVT&usg=AFQjCNGXiD-AMq_c4i9SRECMr6_4C1F-Tw