World failing to provide children a healthy life, climate fit for future: Lancet report
No single country is adequately protecting children's health, their environment and their futures, according to a report released by a Commission of over 40 child and adolescent health experts from around the world, convened by the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF and The Lancet journal.
According to the report, the health and future of every child and adolescent worldwide is under immediate threat from ecological degradation, climate change, and exploitative marketing practices 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 Helen Clark former Prime Minister of New Zealand and Co-Chair of the Commission.
"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