The representative of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in the Dominican Republic warns that obesity has increased to 26.9% of the population of Dominicans older than 18 years, or approximately 1.9 million Dominicans. The United Nations office in the Dominican Republic also reported exclusive breastfeeding is down to 4.6% in 2018 from 8% in 2012. Rosa Elcarte for Unicef said: “People who have not been breast fed have a higher risk of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.” She was speaking on occasion of World Food Day, whose motto is “A healthy diet for a zero hunger world.
On the positive side, undernourishment in the population fell from 24.4% in 2004 to 9.5% in 2018, according to data from the report “The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World.” There has also been a reduction in chronic child malnutrition now at 7.1% of the child population of under five years of age.
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UN
17 October 2019