End the hunger of children
Kupka stressed that the nutritional crisis in Asia is becoming more and more urgent, where around 19 million children are “chronically undernourished”.
Malnutrition, which is an imbalance between the nutrients that the body needs to function and the nutrients it receives, can considerably store the physical and brain development of children, he added.
“We also see that the deficiencies in vitamins and minerals are always very common, and at the same time, we see that more and more children are overweight and obese.
“So I think that what we need to make sure that children have access to good regimes, good services and good practices, and that we help governments to implement good policies and programs to combat these forms of malnutrition.”
Kupka has said that funding for aid programs is one of the biggest obstacles to the fight against malnutrition.
He noted that there is a need for “mechanisms” which can assess various financing needs and encourage the production of certain nutritious foods in the environments where they are necessary.
UNICEF, for example, has introduced Child Nutrition Fund to accelerate the improvement of lasting policies, programs and supplies to end children's undernutrition, Kupka said.
“We think it has a real promise to fight malnutrition in this region, as well as in other regions.”
