Tweet
Read this in the paper today.
World now has 'more
people dying from obesity
than malnutrition'
More people in the world are now dying from obesity tha
malnutrition, anti-poverty campaigners say.
More people now die from obesity than malnutrition (Picture: Reuters)
There were 1.5billion dangerously overweight people worldwide last year,
while 925million were underfed, according to the Red Cross.
The figures were denounced as a ‘shocking’ demonstration that the world
produces enough food but people still go hungry.
The Red Cross called it a ‘double-edged’ scandal that fewer people died of
starvation than were being killed by ‘excess nutrition’.
The organisation’s Bekele Geleta said: ‘If the free interplay of market forces
has produced an outcome where 15 per cent of humanity are hungry while
20 per cent are overweight, something has gone wrong somewhere.’
The problem is highlighted in the organisation’s annual World Disasters
Report, which says the world is facing a growing food crisis.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said
hunger existed not because there was a lack of food globally but because
of poor distribution, wastage and rising prices that made food unaffordable.
Food prices have spiked globally this year because of speculative
commodity trading and climate change, it added. Meredith Alexander, head
of the HungerFree campaign at ActionAid, said: ‘We have always known
that hunger is a man-made tragedy, not a result of natural scarcity.
‘At a time when almost 1billion people go to bed hungry every night, the
Red Cross’s latest figures show that another 1.5billion are obese.’
One in 11 deaths in Britain is now linked to obesity, which causes heart
problems and diabetes.
Recent figures suggest nearly half of men and nearly as many women will
be obese in Britain by 2030.
Alex Cobham, head of policy at Christian Aid, said: ‘A rise in the numbers
both of obese people and people in hunger on the face of it seems
counter-intuitive.
‘But in fact these two trends can be traced back to the same phenomenon
– the common factor is inequality.’
World now has 'more people dying from obesity than malnutrition' | Metro.co.uk
World now has 'more
people dying from obesity
than malnutrition'
More people in the world are now dying from obesity tha
malnutrition, anti-poverty campaigners say.
More people now die from obesity than malnutrition (Picture: Reuters)
There were 1.5billion dangerously overweight people worldwide last year,
while 925million were underfed, according to the Red Cross.
The figures were denounced as a ‘shocking’ demonstration that the world
produces enough food but people still go hungry.
The Red Cross called it a ‘double-edged’ scandal that fewer people died of
starvation than were being killed by ‘excess nutrition’.
The organisation’s Bekele Geleta said: ‘If the free interplay of market forces
has produced an outcome where 15 per cent of humanity are hungry while
20 per cent are overweight, something has gone wrong somewhere.’
The problem is highlighted in the organisation’s annual World Disasters
Report, which says the world is facing a growing food crisis.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said
hunger existed not because there was a lack of food globally but because
of poor distribution, wastage and rising prices that made food unaffordable.
Food prices have spiked globally this year because of speculative
commodity trading and climate change, it added. Meredith Alexander, head
of the HungerFree campaign at ActionAid, said: ‘We have always known
that hunger is a man-made tragedy, not a result of natural scarcity.
‘At a time when almost 1billion people go to bed hungry every night, the
Red Cross’s latest figures show that another 1.5billion are obese.’
One in 11 deaths in Britain is now linked to obesity, which causes heart
problems and diabetes.
Recent figures suggest nearly half of men and nearly as many women will
be obese in Britain by 2030.
Alex Cobham, head of policy at Christian Aid, said: ‘A rise in the numbers
both of obese people and people in hunger on the face of it seems
counter-intuitive.
‘But in fact these two trends can be traced back to the same phenomenon
– the common factor is inequality.’
World now has 'more people dying from obesity than malnutrition' | Metro.co.uk
Comment