Climate change – Malnutrition, hunger among world’s children and women

Children and women are the very important entities of our society so their health, growth and nourish ment needs to be looked after and handled with proper care to protect them from the ripple effects of climate change, the biggest threat to humankind, influencing everything from air quality to water contamination, nutrition and food safety. It is said that there is more than enough food produced in the world to feed everyone, yet 815 million people go hungry. Today, one of the greatest challenges the world faces is how to ensure that a growing global population - projected to rise to around 10 billion by 2050 – has enough food to meet their nutritional needs. Millions of children and women are at risk from malnutrition and hunger. Women who suffer malnutrition are less likely to have healthy babies.Malnourished mothers are more likely to give birth to underweight babies. Underweight babies are 20 percent more likely to die before the age of five. Around half of all pregnant women in developing countries are anaemic. This causes around 110,000 deaths during childbirth each year. Deficiencies in nutrition inflict long-term damage to both individuals and society. Compared with their better-fed peers, nutrition-deficient individuals are more likely to have infectious diseases, which lead to a higher mortality rate. Malnutrition during pregnancy causes the child to have increased risk of future diseases, physical retardation, and reduced cognitive abilities. In this context it is well said: hungry mothers, hungry daughters: addressing the cycle of malnutrition. When adolescent girls and mothers are malnourished, their daughters and sons grow up malnourished, and continue this cycle. Half a billion women of reproductive age worldwide suffer from anemia, which impairs health of mother and child. Further, nearly half of all child deaths,i.e., 3.1 million children per year are due to malnutrition.

Ravi Sharma is Ex-Founder Principal ESS ESS College of Education, Dayalbagh, AGRA and Formerly Prof. & Head Department of Botany K. R. College Mathura. At present working as Retired Professor Botany Agra College, Agra. He holds PhD (1982) from Agra University, Agra UP India on ‘Physiology of plant tolerance to salinity at early seedling stage’ and is presently working for DSc Degree of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Univ., formerly Agra Univ., Agra UP India on ‘Strategy for sustainable improvement of selected crops production under saline conditions emphasizing bio-control of salinity’. He was awarded a Teacher Research Fellowship by University Grant Commission New Delhi for Higher studies 1979-1981. He holds fellowship and position of responsibility in various National and International Professional Societies. He has been elected as Academic Member Communication Institute of Greece in 2014. He has presented and published about 140 papers and articles and a book on Plant Physiology and 4 books are under completion. He has attended more than 100 National and International Conferences and Seminars, has been Key Note and Invited Speaker, Organizing Committee Member and Chaired Technical Sessions.