UNICEF warns of deepening child nutrition woes in South Asia

UNICEF warns that a triple burden of malnutrition, anaemia, and obesity is severely exacerbating the nutrition crisis for children in South Asia, placing tens of millions at significant health risk. The alert comes from the UN children's agency in a media statement issued on Wednesday. Drawing from its report “Feeding Profit: How Food Environments are Failing Children”, UNICEF highlights that the number of overweight children aged 5 to 19 in the region has quintupled since 2000. Currently, at least 70 million such children reside in South Asia, it said Nearly half (48 percent) of school-attending adolescents in the area report canteens or food shops at their institutions, predominantly stocked with packaged snacks, fast food, and sugary drinks rather than healthy...