The Honโble Lyonchhoen yesterday launched Nourishing Bhutan-Framework for Action, a national roadmap to ensure every child grows up healthy and strong. The launch coincided with UNICEFโs new global child nutrition report highlighting that overweight and obesity are rising fast among children, including in Bhutan.
Addressing the event, Lyonchhoen said, โOur future is about our children. If they are undernourished or robbed of their potential before they even turn five, all our national efforts will be for nothing.โ He added that โNutrition has always been a priority of the Government. Nourishing Bhutan-Framework for Action is not just another policy document, it is a bold roadmap to ensure every child grows up healthy, strong, and proud to be Bhutanese.โ
According to the new UNICEF report titled, Feeding Profit: How Food Environments are Failing Children, the number of children in Bhutan aged 5-19 years living with overweight and obesity has tripled in the past two decades, rising from 6% in 2000 to 18% in 2022. Girls are the most affected. It reports that anaemia continues to impact nearly half of children under five and more than a third of adolescent girls.
Undernutrition- stunting, wasting and underweight also remains a challenge in some communities. Together, this triple burden of malnutrition-undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies and overweight threatens childrenโs health, learning and future.
The report further includes findings from a 2023 UNICEF survey among young people aged 13-24 years, which shows that children and families in Bhutan are growing up in an environment saturated with cheap and ultra-processed foods making healthier options harder to afford. Widespread consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks, salty snacks and fast food is common among many adolescents noting that marketing influences their food choices both inside and outside schools.
Over the years, Bhutan has made strong progress. Stunting among children under five has nearly halved in the past decade, falling to almost 18% in 2023. More than half of children under five are free from undernutrition, while 90,000 students benefit from government-supported fortified school meals. The government has strengthened feeding programmes by introducing the โone egg per childโ initiative, enhancing iron and folic acid supplementation and increasing stipends, a significant step toward ensuring better nutrition for students.
โEvery child deserves good nutrition so they can grow, learn and thrive. This Framework for Action is Bhutanโs promise to give children the healthy future they deserve,โ said Rushnan Murtaza, the UNICEF Representative in Bhutan.
The report was jointly published by the Ministry of Health, and UNICEF Bhutan underscoring that Bhutan is nourishing its future by nourishing every child today.
Please click the link to access the report: https://drive.google.com/…/1Tj7mUJnPEcQswxi4V77…/view…
