A joint report released by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has shed new light on the nutrition situation of children across the region. The report finds that several ASEAN countries are facing simultaneous crises of over and undernutrition, with some children overweight while their peers suffer from stunting and wasting.
This “double burden of malnutrition” is happening in middle income countries such Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand. “Many countries in South-east Asia have seen impressive economic gains in the last decade, lifting millions of children out of poverty,” said Christiane Rudert, Regional Nutrition Adviser for UNICEF East Asia and Pacific, in a press release.