Children under five account for one third of deaths from foodborne diseases

The World Health Organization on Thursday stated that almost 600 million people get sick from eating contaminated food each year, and around 420,000 die, moreover, young children make up for about nearly one third of those deaths. In its first-ever estimate of the impact of foodborne diseases, the UN health agency found that almost one in 10 people globally get sick each year from food contaminated with a range of bacteria, viruses, parasites, toxins and chemicals.

Kazuaki Miyagishima, head of WHO’s food safety division, highlighted and stressed on the importance of getting clear data on the problem. “Until now, we have been combatting an invisible enemy, an invisible ghost,” he told reporters in Geneva, adding that he hoped that quantifying the toll of contaminated food would help mobilize countries to significantly boost food safety.

The report is based on analysis of data up to 2010. It has identified 31 different agents contaminating food and making hundreds of millions of people either acutely ill or injecting them with serious illnesses like cancer that may not surface until years later. The report has stated that in addition to killing nearly half a million people each year, foodborne diseases are taking a significant toll on the quality of life of those who survive.

“Until now, estimates of foodborne diseases were vague and imprecise. This concealed the true human costs of contaminated food. This report sets the record straight,” said WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan upon release of the Estimates of the Global Burden of Foodborne Diseases – the most comprehensive report to date on the impact of contaminated food on health and wellbeing. Knowing which foodborne pathogens are causing the biggest problems in which parts of the world can generate targeted action by the public, governments, and the food industry,” Dr. Chan explained.

According to the report, children below the age of five account for 40 per cent of the 600 million cases of food-borne diseases worldwide annually and 30 per cent of the 4, 20,000 deaths, even though they constitute only nine per cent of the total population, the World Health Organization said. Besides killing nearly half a million people every year, foodborne diseases caused by various types of bacteria, viruses, parasites, toxins and chemicals are taking a significant toll on the quality of life of those who survive.

“We have been combatting an invisible enemy, an invisible ghost,” said Dr Kazuaki Miyagishima, director of WHO’s Department of Food Safety, at a news briefing, referring to a lack of data up until now in understanding food borne diseases. “The data we are publishing is only a very conservative estimate, we are sure that the real figure is bigger,” Dr Miyagishima said.

The research that was carried out by 150 scientists from across the globe for eight years is based on analysis of data up to 2010, but the situation has not changed much since 2010, the WHO said. The research team analyzed 31 different agents contaminating food and two viruses, 12 bacteria, 14 parasites and three chemicals.

However, steps are already being taken in order to minimize the risk foodborne diseases pose to the health of children. It should be noticed that the risk of foodborne diseases is much more severe in low and middle income countries where methods for preparing food are at times, unhygienic while conditions for food production are inadequate at best.