Reports are coming in to Ukmedix that as many as 1 in 7 children below the age of 5 and living in the United Arab Emirates are serious lacking in nutrients. The information comes from Unicef survey on nutrition levels on the area. What is more surprising is that at the same time the health authorities of the area are also saying that child obesity levels are at an all time high.

Unicef noted that 15% of children below the age of 5 were wasting which means that they are undernourished and dangerously thin and the Unicef regional officer for the UAE said that this did not mean that the children were literally starving but that that they were not eating the correct food and that they just need nutrients. In fact the problem is strange as you have a situation where some of the children are under nourished and also obese at the same time. Another survey undertaken by another health group noted that 17% children from the UAE  between the ages of 6 and 16 were obese.

The Unicef survey looked at many different aspects of child health and noted that the UAE has higher than average musoskeletal growth problem with 14% of children being classified as underweight and 17% being classified as stunted meaning that they had a shorter than normal height.

The survey underlined the fact that a boom in economic development and financial growth for all families in a region did not always come with improved health for the people who lived there. Sometimes that opposite could occur with the new found wealth going into junk food and too much of it. The Unicef report shows that more education is needed on the benefits of certain types of food and public information campaigns on obesity and its effects on health.

The health authorities of the UAE are also keen that families take more of an interest what children eat especially if they are suffering from obesity. The UAE say that in response to the Unicef report that they will be undertaking initiatives to help families get healthy and they specifically are focusing on women who are traditionally the ones who feed the children and also who have been seen to be suffering from obesity too in the UAE.