Almost half a billion adolescents around the world will live with obesity or overweight and 1 billion at risk of poor health avoidable by 2030, according to an international report.
Although the mortality of adolescents has decreased by more than a quarter in the past two decades, a complete analysis of global data has calculated that in five years, at least half of children aged 10 to 24 in the world will live in countries where avoidable health problems such as HIV / AIDS, pregnancy, depression and bad nutrition will constitute a “daily threat to their health, health and life in terms of life”. The health of young people has reached a “tilting point”, warned the authors.
By 2030, 464 million young people will live with obesity or overweight, up 143 million compared to 2015, the report of the Commission Lancet on health and well-being forecasts of adolescents.
The burden of excess weight is already felt disproportionately in high -income countries; Latin America and the Caribbean; And North Africa and the Middle East, where more than a third of 10 to 24 years live with overweight or obesity.
The report also found a “significant drop” of the mental health of young people and said that the climate crisis posed “new important threats” for their health.
“Today’s adolescents are the first cohort of humans who will live their whole lives to live the growing reverberations of climate change,” noted the authors. The examination calculated that at 2100, 1.9 billion adolescents would live with the effects of global heating, which bring “catastrophic risks” to their well-being such as diseases linked to heat and food insecurity and water.
The areas in which certain progress had been made included an abuse of substance, with the proportion of 10 to 24 years which smoke or drinking alcohol decreasing in each region. The number of young people who are not in education, work or training have also reduced, depending on the report. But “progress has been compromised by the COVID-19 pandemic and a chronic lack of funding,” noted the authors.
Professor Sarah Baird, of George Washington University in the United States and co-president of the Lancet Commission, said: “The health and well-being of adolescents from around the world are at a tilting point … Investing in the health and well-being of young people is crucial to protect our collective future.”
The report concludes: “Without political will, political initiatives and financial investment … a large number of adolescents will grow with poor health.”
Dr. Anshu Banerjee, director of health and aging of kindergartens, newborn, children and adolescents to the World Health Organization, said: “To advance the health and rights of young people is the foundation of a better future for all of us. From the end of children’s marriage to the fight against the mental health crisis and obesity, we must confront both ancient threats and emerging with their health.
“Each young person deserves access to health services and essential information – without stigmatization or discrimination. As the counterpouil against gender equality increases and harmful commercial influences propagate, the defense of health and the rights of young people is more urgent than ever.
Johanna Ralston, director general of the World Obesity Federation, said: “This commission clearly indicates what many of us have warned for a long time: the health of adolescents in the world is undermined by the failure of food and health systems.
“The increase in obesity and related diseases is not only a question of individual choice – it is the result of flooded environments of health products to health, including ultra -transformed foods, in parallel with policies that do not protect young people.
“Governments must act urgently to create healthier food and health systems and prioritize the well-being of adolescents in national health strategies.”