Olympians' concern for child malnutrition
Photo: STAR
We have learnt from the media that British Prime Minister David Cameron has urged international action to tackle malnutrition across the globe. Taking advantage of the large number of foreign officials gathered in London for the Olympic Games, Prime Minister Cameron has called on world powers to save 25 million children from stunted growth over the next four years. However, noted Olympians including world famous athletes have signed an open letter urging Cameron to fire the starting gun on the biggest ever push against hunger and malnutrition. The letter says, “As athletes, we know how essential nutritious food is for people to flourish physically and mentally.” Anyway, how unfortunate it is that despite the abundance of food world-wide, one person in seven goes to bed hungry every night and it is children who are often hit hardest. Experts say that one in three child deaths are linked to malnutrition; and 171 million children are so malnourished by the age of two that they can never physically recover. Even if malnourished children are able to fight off sickness and infection in their earliest years, their bodies and minds never fully develop. Anyway, we offer our cordial thanks to the British premier for his timely call for boosting world power's efforts to tackle malnutrition throughout the world. In this context, we also urge the Olympians, the world powers along with international community to set a comprehensive program for eradicating malnutrition. It would really make the Olympic Games delightful to the millions of children who suffer from malnutrition.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments