By Ihechi Enyinnaya
A new report by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation reveals that fortifying bouillon cubes with essential nutrients such as iron, folic acid, zinc, and vitamin B12 could significantly reduce anaemia and neural tube defects in children in Nigeria.
The report suggests that this intervention could prevent up to 16.6 million cases of anaemia and up to 11,000 deaths from neural tube defects by 2050.
Released on Tuesday as part of the foundation’s eighth annual Goalkeepers report, the document further emphasises the urgent need for immediate global action to address health and nutrition challenges exacerbated by climate change.
The report, titled “A Race to Nourish a Warming World,” highlights that climate change is expected to worsen the effects of hunger, with up to 40 million more children facing severe outcomes by 2050 if no action is taken.
The report also projects that, without significant intervention, an additional 40 million children will suffer from stunting and 28 million from wasting between 2024 and 2050.
Stunting and wasting are severe forms of malnutrition that affect children’s growth and health, leading to developmental delays and increased mortality risk.
In 2023, the World Health Organisation estimated that 148 million children experienced stunting and 45 million experienced wasting.
The Gates Foundation emphasises that the global share of foreign aid to Africa has decreased, from 40 per cent in 2010 to just 25 per cent in recent years, despite the fact that more than half of all child deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa.
This reduction in aid threatens to undermine progress made in global health and leaves millions of children vulnerable to preventable diseases.
Bill Gates, co-chair of the foundation, expressed concern over the inadequate response to the increasing challenges of inflation, debt, and conflict, which are straining aid budgets.
He advocates for maintaining and increasing global health funding, addressing child malnutrition through the Child Nutrition Fund, and fully supporting effective health institutions like Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria.
Gates also highlights the economic impact of malnutrition, noting that undernutrition costs the global economy about $3 trillion annually due to lost productivity.
In low-income countries, this represents a significant portion of GDP, equivalent to a permanent global recession at 2008 levels.
The report calls for a renewed commitment to global health and nutrition to mitigate these severe impacts and improve the well-being of millions of children worldwide.