A new report, commissioned by child and adolescent health experts from the World Health Organisation (WHO), UNICEF and The Lancet, reveals that no single country is adequately protecting children’s health.
The report, titled A Future for the World’s Children, finds that the health and future of children and adolescents worldwide is under immediate threat from ecological degradation, climate change and exploitative marketing practises that push heavily processed fast food, sugary drinks, alcohol and tobacco at children.
“Despite improvements in child and adolescent health over the past 20 years, progress has stalled, and is set to reverse,” said former prime minister of New Zealand and co-chair of the commission Helen Clark. “It has been estimated that around 250 million children under five years old in low- and middle-income countries are at risk of not reaching their developmental potential, based on proxy measures of stunting and poverty. But of even greater concern, every child worldwide now faces existential threats from climate change and commercial pressures.
“Countries need to overhaul their approach to child and adolescent health, to ensure that we not only look after our children today but protect the world they will inherit in the future,” she added.
Climate change threatens every child’s future
Included in the report is a new global index that compares the performance of ‘child flourishing’ among 180 countries. The index includes measures of child survival and well-being, health, education and nutrition. For the first time it also includes a proxy for greenhouse gas emissions and wealth distribution.
These new proxies provide some of the starkest and most startling insights.
When per capita CO2 emissions into account, the world’s richest countries trail behind: Norway ranked 156, the Republic of Korea 166, and the Netherlands 160. Each of the three emits 210% more CO2 per capita than their 2030 target. The United States of America, Australia, and Saudi Arabia are among the ten worst emitters.
“More than two billion people live in countries where development is hampered by humanitarian crises, conflicts, and natural disasters, problems increasingly linked with climate change,” said minister Awa Coll-Seck from Senegal, co-chair of the commission. “While some of the poorest countries have among the lowest CO2 emissions, many are exposed to the harshest impacts of a rapidly changing climate. Promoting better conditions today for children to survive and thrive nationally does not have to come at the cost of eroding children’s futures globally.”
