隐藏的饥饿使营养不良是三管齐下的负担

The battle to wipe out malnutrition requires healthy diets that also tackle micronutrient deficiencies, alongside the growing burdens of undernutrition and obesity.

学校用餐and community education could help address a growing burden of ‘hidden hunger’ — a shortage of the vital minerals and vitamins critical to proper growth and development.

营养专家已经超越了越来越普遍的营养迹象 - 体重不足或肥胖 - 现在是指营养不良的三重负担。隐藏的饥饿感或微量营养素缺乏症已成为全球日益增长的问题的第三个支柱，但对于低收入和中等收入国家来说是一个特别的挑战。

It is anticipated that around 660 million people may still face hunger in 2030, in part due to the lasting effects of the pandemic on global food security. Climate extremes and economic disruptions are other major drivers, says this year’s世界粮食安全和营养状况，联合国多机构报告。

更多的than half the world’s undernourished people are found in Asia (418 million) and more than one-third in Africa (282 million), according to the report.

营养不良的三重负担

Most children with malnutrition globally also live in Africa and Asia, says the report. These regions account for more than nine in ten children with stunting – being too short for their age – and with wasting – being too light for their height, and more than seven in ten who are overweight.

在大流行之前，联合国儿童基金会世界子女的状态report for 2019 warned of the rising triple burden of malnutrition. Children and women in their reproductive years are most at risk of micronutrient deficiency, said UNICEF.

报告补充说：“良好的营养可以破坏营养不良使贫困永久存在的代际周期，贫困使营养不良。”

Mercy Lung’aho, a research scientist for the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture, toldscidev.net：“我见过社区，母亲超重并且患有贫血，而孩子们发育不良并患有贫血，有时在同一家庭中。”

全球大流行使这些问题加剧了，数以百万计的家庭无法负担或获得重要的营养食品。

总部位于英国的东英吉利大学性别与发展教授Nitya Rao表示，Covid-19的中断暴露于没有社会保护机制的国家中的不平等现象，并强调说，全球粮食安全系统在系统冲击和危机中没有准备好。

Rao说：“即使有可用的食物也无法购买，而且在许多地方，食品价格上涨。”

Rao研究了印度粮食安全，这是世界领先的粮食生产国之一。她说，尽管能够通过一些主要冲击，该国的粮食供应链在大流行期间面临一些障碍。

According to Rao, one of these is that India’s food systems struggle to supply perishable foods — the fruits and vegetables that contain vital nutrients.

“几个月来，人们无法负担健康，营养丰富的饮食。他们有米饭和小麦要吃，但是他们没有钱买蔬菜，水果或鸡蛋。”她说。

Yet on the other hand, a saving grace was that the country’s first lockdown, imposed in March 2020, coincided with the peak of the harvest season for winter crops such as wheat, barley, peas and mustard, according to the country’s Crop Situationreport。

印度还将其农场工人和农业公司从封锁中豁免，使该国能够收获和股票谷物，以帮助养活其1beplay下载官网西西软件4亿美元的人口。

访问和意识

在世界范围内,大约四分之一的联合国的婴儿der five are stunted, while obesity is also increasing, according to UNICEF’s全球的营养2020年的报告。

在坦桑尼亚，那里五分之一以下的三分之一remains stunted, communities face cultural barriers to good nutrition, even when there is plenty of food, says Elizabeth Ndaba, a nutritionist at the country’s Ministry of Health.

有些女人因为信念that their breasts will sag or because of witchcraft, denying the babies important nutrients for early growth and development.

同时，非洲范围的研究发现父母养活的孩子六米onths with highly processed junk foods, instead of foods rich in micronutrients, including fruits, vegetables and eggs.

Ndaba说：“在具有不同种族背景和食物传统的社区中，关于喂养和食物的神话和误解是泛滥成灾的。”“困境也是，垃圾食品比传统饮食更容易获得和便宜。”

在坦桑尼亚，根据从国全国平均水平的40％以上的率最高的地区，具有讽刺意味坦桑尼亚的营养调查。

Ndaba说：“这告诉我们问题不是缺乏食物，而是缺乏意识。”

“饮食对孩子的影响可能太微妙了，因此，当母亲决定坚持喂养婴儿的信念错误时，他们一开始就不会看到问题。最后，随着孩子的成长不佳或在学校的表现不佳时，会注意到发育迟缓的迹象。”

坦桑尼亚正在与国际非政府组织合作to increase公众关于良好营养实践的知识，例如促进学校和整个卫生诊所的水果和蔬菜消费。

但是，恩达巴说：“虽然有许多教育计划可以增加人们对营养的知识，但仍然存在的挑战是如何将这些知识付诸实践。”

食品系统和补品

饶说，政府，尤其是全球南部的政府必须重新考虑其粮食系统，专注于当地的粮食生产以进行本地消费，并投资于强大的社会保护机制，以在危机中保持韧性。

在微量营养素方面，营养组织专注于母乳喂养母亲的维生素A，因为它是婴儿的必不可少的维生素。世界卫生组织（WHO）标记维生素缺乏症是世界许多地方的公共卫生问题，尤其是非洲和东南亚。

Vitamin A deficiencycan cause visual impairment, according to the WHO, and may increase the risk of illness and death from childhood infections, including measles and those causing diarrhoea.

但是，世卫组织说的证据并没有达到维生素补充剂，而是表明这对最近出生的妇女的有效性有限。世卫组织说：“应该鼓励产后妇女接受足够的营养，这是通过消费均衡的健康饮食来实现的。”

Lung’aho agrees that balanced and多样化的饮食是满足营养需求的最佳方法。隆加霍人说：“我们需要滋养社区，尊重农业的生计并增强行星健康的[食品]系统。”beplay下载官网西西软件

学校用餐

营养specialists frequently point to the value that school meals offer in the battle against malnutrition. Expanding school meal programmes and scaling up nutrition in workplaces could go a long way towards addressing the triple burden of malnutrition, they say.

During the pandemic, school closures led to more than 370 million children around the world missing out on school meals, said a World Food Programme (WFP) and UNICEFreport一月份发行。

该报告表明，学校用餐可以提高上课时间，为儿童提供营养食品，并帮助减轻负担不起健康饮食的低收入家庭的经济负担。

Importantly, school meals also offer a way to spread knowledge on nutrition to children, their families and wider communities. Recognising the value of school meals, a range of countries implemented alternative programmes to keep children well-fed in the early days of the pandemic, says a WFPreport。

South Africa and Japan embarked on take-home rations for the children. And despite being highly criticised for its handling of the pandemic, Brazil adapted measures through its National School Feeding Programme to keep its 40 million schoolchildren eating healthy meals, relying on food baskets designed by nutritionists.

Amid foreign aid cuts and wider economic hurdles, sustainable funding for school meals remains a challenge for many governments, scientists say. Lina Mahy, a technical officer in the WHO’s nutrition and food safety department, says governments should invest in school food programmes to provide healthy diets to children.

She says that international support is available when governments show their commitment to investing in children’s nutrition. “It’s always important for donors to see that the country is willing to invest in themselves and have a well-thought-out plan,” Mahy says.

“Compared with investment in other sectors, investing in school meals might be a tiny fraction of what’s being invested in other government priorities.”