UNICEF Warns of Rising Childhood Obesity, Calls for Urgent Food Policy Reforms
A new UNICEF report has revealed a worrying global trend: obesity has now surpassed underweight as the most prevalent form of malnutrition among children, with 1 in 10 — or 188 million — school-aged children and adolescents affected.
The findings show that more children today face risks of life-threatening diseases linked to unhealthy diets than those associated with undernutrition, a shift UNICEF describes as alarming for both health systems and long-term development.
Call for Urgent Action
To address the crisis, UNICEF is urging governments, civil society, and development partners to take bold and comprehensive steps to transform food environments for children. Recommendations include mandatory food labelling, tighter restrictions on marketing of unhealthy products, and the introduction of food-related taxes and subsidies to make nutritious options more affordable.
The agency also called for bans on the sale and sponsorship of junk foods in schools, greater protection of public policy from interference by the ultra-processed food industry, and strengthened social protection programmes to ensure vulnerable families can access healthy diets.
“In many countries we are seeing the double burden of malnutrition — the existence of stunting and obesity. This requires targeted interventions,” said Russell, a UNICEF representative. “Nutritious and affordable food must be available to every child to support their growth and development. We urgently need policies that support parents and caretakers to access nutritious and healthy foods for their children.”
The Ghana Context
The warning resonates in Ghana, where studies have shown a rise in childhood obesity in urban areas, even as stunting and micronutrient deficiencies remain widespread in rural communities. Health experts say the popularity of fast food, limited nutrition education, and weak regulation of food marketing have contributed to unhealthy eating habits among children.
Civil society groups have long argued that Ghana needs to move beyond awareness campaigns to enforce stricter regulations on food sales in and around schools. They say that pairing such regulations with targeted social protection measures could help vulnerable families afford more nutritious foods.
As UNICEF’s report stresses, creating healthier food environments is not just a matter of individual choice but of systemic reform. For Ghana and many other countries, the challenge now is to act swiftly to protect the next generation from a future of diet-related diseases.
