Around 4,20,000 people die each year from eating contaminated food globally with children under the age of five accounting for nearly one third of those deaths, the WHO said on Thursday in its first-ever estimate of the impact of foodborne diseases.
The UN health agency in the report released on Thursday said that as many as 600 million people — almost 1 in 10 people — globally fall sick every year after consuming contaminated food.
Children under the age of five account for 40 per cent of the 600 million cases of foodborne 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 Organisation 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, the report said.
Each year, the global population as a whole loses a full 33 million Disability-Adjusted life Years (DAlYs), or healthy years of life, it said.
Young children bear the disproportionate burden of the silent malady and diarrhoeal diseases are responsible for more than half of the global burden of foodborne diseases.
Around 550 million people, including 220 million children, fall ill from diarrhoeal diseases caused by norovirus, Campylobacter, E coli and non-typhoidal Salmonella.