The statistics are clear and shocking: More than 400 million children around the world are not receiving enough nutrients to grow and thrive.
And more serious still, nearly half of those may experience stunting, which means they cannot grow to their full physical and mental potential because of malnutrition, according to a new report by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
“When you've suffered from stunting or wasting, the body and brain will never fully recover to what would have been its full potential. … It now contributes to 50 per cent of the remaining preventable deaths of children under the age of five,” the foundation's chief executive Mark Suzman told The National.
“And for those who do survive, they're a lot less resilient. They have fewer years of schooling, they do less well in school, they're less likely to be employed, they’re more likely to be in poverty.”
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is determined to combat childhood malnutrition around the world. Based in Seattle and launched in 2000, it is a global leader in fighting poverty, disease and inequality around the world. In 2024, it had an operating budget of $8.6 billion.
The foundation's annual Goalkeepers report, released on Tuesday, outlined a series of relatively simple and affordable solutions.
Milk is an incredible source of nutrition for children. According to the foundation, increasing milk production by just a factor of two or three in low and middle-income countries could have a profound impact.
Another solution is adding extra ingredients to household staples like bouillon cubes. In Ethiopia, it's already having an impact. According to the report, a new process of fortifying salt with iodine and folic acid led to a “four per cent reduction in anaemia and preventing 73 per cent of all deaths and stillbirths due to neural tube defects.”
In a country such as Nigeria, it could help avert “half of all deaths and stillbirths from neural tube defects”.
While the solutions are simple, there has been a dramatic reduction in funding and progress in combating global health issues since the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Our message is that there has not been as much global progress as the world could and should have seen across most of our indications, and especially in the area we care most about, which is global health,” Mr Suzman said.
The chief executive said progressive had essentially stalled and that it appeared to be “much more than a Covid hangover”.
Most frustrating for the foundation is that the solutions exist to combat many of the world’s challenges.
“This really shouldn't be happening because the world has the tools and resources to actually change and address that,” Mr Suzman lamented.
In 2015, the UN adopted a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that included several interconnected objectives, designed to create a “shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet”.
As time marches forward and the 2030 deadline to meet the goals looms, it’s becoming less and less likely that the international community will be able to achieve the original objectives.
“There's no getting around that,” Mr Suzman said. “If you look at those charts and the trajectory of those charts, the vast majority of SDGs, and particularly the 18 SDG indicators that we prioritise as targets, as they're the ones we track, the world is well off track now to meet that as goals.”
As hope to meet the SDGs by 2030 fades, Mr Suzman and the foundation are determined to continue advocating and rallying on behalf of those who are most affected by the lack of progress and believe that even without achieving the 2030 target “you can have a very different trajectory over the succeeding decade” with sufficient effort and funding on a host of critical issues plaguing the world.
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The Bio
Hometown: Bogota, Colombia
Favourite place to relax in UAE: the desert around Al Mleiha in Sharjah or the eastern mangroves in Abu Dhabi
The one book everyone should read: 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It will make your mind fly
Favourite documentary: Chasing Coral by Jeff Orlowski. It's a good reality check about one of the most valued ecosystems for humanity
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
Results:
5pm: Conditions (PA) Dh80,000 1,400m | Winner: AF Tahoonah, Richard Mullen (jockey), Ernst Oertel (trainer)
5.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh90,000 1,400m | Winner: Ajwad, Gerald Avranche, Rashed Bouresly
6pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 1,600m | Winner: RB Lam Tara, Fabrice Veron, Eric Lemartinel
6.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 1,600m | Winner: Duc De Faust, Szczepan Mazur, Younis Al Kalbani
7pm: Wathba Stallions Cup (PA) Dh70,000 2,200m | Winner: Shareef KB, Fabrice Veron, Ernst Oertel
7.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh90,000 1,500m | Winner: Bainoona, Pat Cosgrave, Eric Lemartinel
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Profile
Company: Justmop.com
Date started: December 2015
Founders: Kerem Kuyucu and Cagatay Ozcan
Sector: Technology and home services
Based: Jumeirah Lake Towers, Dubai
Size: 55 employees and 100,000 cleaning requests a month
Funding: The company’s investors include Collective Spark, Faith Capital Holding, Oak Capital, VentureFriends, and 500 Startups.
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The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylinder turbo
Power: 240hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 390Nm at 3,000rpm
Transmission: eight-speed auto
Price: from Dh122,745
On sale: now
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
The most expensive investment mistake you will ever make
When is the best time to start saving in a pension? The answer is simple – at the earliest possible moment. The first pound, euro, dollar or dirham you invest is the most valuable, as it has so much longer to grow in value. If you start in your twenties, it could be invested for 40 years or more, which means you have decades for compound interest to work its magic.
“You get growth upon growth upon growth, followed by more growth. The earlier you start the process, the more it will all roll up,” says Chris Davies, chartered financial planner at The Fry Group in Dubai.
This table shows how much you would have in your pension at age 65, depending on when you start and how much you pay in (it assumes your investments grow 7 per cent a year after charges and you have no other savings).
|
Age
|
$250 a month
|
$500 a month
|
$1,000 a month
|
|
25
|
$640,829
|
$1,281,657
|
$2,563,315
|
|
35
|
$303,219
|
$606,439
|
$1,212,877
|
|
45
|
$131,596
|
$263,191
|
$526,382
|
|
55
|
$44,351
|
$88,702
|
$177,403
|
MATCH INFO
Norwich City 1 (Cantwell 75') Manchester United 2 (Aghalo 51' 118') After extra time.
Man of the match Harry Maguire (Manchester United)
'How To Build A Boat'
Jonathan Gornall, Simon & Schuster
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
City's slump
L - Juventus, 2-0
D - C Palace, 2-2
W - N Forest, 3-0
L - Liverpool, 2-0
D - Feyenoord, 3-3
L - Tottenham, 4-0
L - Brighton, 2-1
L - Sporting, 4-1
L - Bournemouth, 2-1
L - Tottenham, 2-1
Brief scores
Toss India, chose to bat
India 281-7 in 50 ov (Pandya 83, Dhoni 79; Coulter-Nile 3-44)
Australia 137-9 in 21 ov (Maxwell 39, Warner 25; Chahal 3-30)
India won by 26 runs on Duckworth-Lewis Method
World ranking (at month’s end)
Jan - 257
Feb - 198
Mar - 159
Apr - 161
May - 159
Jun – 162
Currently: 88
Year-end rank since turning pro
2016 - 279
2015 - 185
2014 - 143
2013 - 63
2012 - 384
2011 - 883
