Obesity killing more people than hunger

New report says almost one billion people around the world go to bed hungry

PTI | September 23, 2011




Almost one billion people around the globe go to bed hungry every night, but it is "excess nutrition" that kills more, according to world's largest humanitarian organisation IFRC.

"At least one billion people are undernourished while a staggering 1.5 billion people are overweight, including an increasing number in low and middle income countries," World Disasters Report-2011 by International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies stated.

"Excess nutrition kills 2.4 million annually, more than hunger," Jagan Chapagain, IFRC Asia Pacific director, said while releasing the report.

"The number of obese is increasing in India and China, home to nearly half the world's hungry people, other south east Asian countries. One of the reasons is increasing FDI and over-dependency on ready made or fast food," he said but maintained that there is no country specific data on the issue.

The IFRC argues that National Food Security Bill will not alone be sufficient to wipe out hunger from India and suggested a holistic approach to secure livelihood for poor and sufficient food grains production for achieving the goal.

"Food alone will not be the answer.... government needs to plan for providing livelihood to poor families and produce more food in sustainable manner," Mihoko Tamamura, World Food Programme director (India), said.

Read the report

Comments

 

Other News

Railways imposed ₹5.13 crore fine for food quality and hygiene violations

Indian Railways serve about 58 crore meals every year on an average. About only 0.0008% food quality related complaints are received on average. Based on complaints during the last three years, appropriate penal actions have been taken by IRCTC. Such actions include imposition of fines amounting to ₹5.13

STHAVAR: Why every Indian built asset needs a permanent digital identity

India has built digital systems for identity, payments, taxation, documents, logistics and public services. State governments, ministries, infrastructure agencies and urban local bodies have also created portals for land records, building permissions, project monitoring, property taxation and municipal s

Saksham Skill census identifies 22,000 job-ready candidates in one Mumbai ward

A first-of-its-kind AI-enabled skill census conducted in Mumbai`s H-West Ward has identified a potential livelihood pipeline of nearly 22,000 candidates, generated over 32,000 provisional job matches while revealing that 71.2 per cent of surveyed homemakers are willing to join the workforce, according to

GI tags: Scaling traditional wealth into global brands

Geographical Indication (GI) tags have emerged as a powerful tool for protecting India`s cultural heritage, while creating economic opportunities for local communities. By linking products to their place of origin, GI tags preserve traditional knowledge, prevent misuse, and enhance consumer trust. They h

BMC: 207 officials in ACB net, 112 still on duty, 68 retire before justice catches up

There are significant delays in the handling of corruption cases involving officials of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), a Right to Information (RTI) response obtained by rights activist Jeetendra Ghadge has revealed. As of 30 April 2026, 207 BMC officials face Anti-Corruption Bureau (A

The transformation trap: Why efficiency is not innovation

Every company is transforming, or so it claims.   There was a time when the word ‘transformation’ carried weight. It signified bold strategic shifts, reinvention of business models, and breakthrough technologies that fundamentally changed how organizations created

Upcoming Conferences



-->

Archives

Current Issue

Opinion

Facebook Twitter Google Plus Linkedin Subscribe Newsletter

Twitter