African leaders pledge to overcome malnutrition, elevate nutrition as driver for growth
AFRICAN leaders yesterday made a landmark commitment to remove nutritionrelated barriers that prevent children and societies from realising their full potentials.
The leaders made the commitment at the launch of African Leaders for Nutrition (ALN) − an initiative championed by the African Development Bank (AFDB) and the African Union Commission – in Addis Ababa, where they agreed to jointly overcome malnutrition and elevate nutrition as driver for economic growth and sustainable development.
According to a statement by the AFDB, the President, Akinwumi Adesina said stunted children today would lead to stunted economies tomorrow. The impact of stunting is irreversible, but preventable. Poor nutrition is responsible for stunting children’s growth, harming children’s educational development and future economic prospects. In 2016, 59 million African children suffered from stunting and 14 million suffered from wasting. Combined together, this is more than the population of France, more than the population of South Africa and seven times the population of Switzerland, Adesina warned. “There’s every reason to care, poor nutrition is the main cause of death for millions of children under five. Indeed, three million children die every year in Africa from malnutrition. If current trends continue to 2030, Africa would have lost a mind boggling 36 million children be- cause they didn’t have enough to eat or to eat well enough.”
The African Union has endorsed the ALN initiative and encouraged its champions to continue to dialogue and strengthen advocacy efforts in support of improved nutrition.
The Prime Minister of Lesotho, Motsoahae Thomas Thabane, read the resolution of African leaders on the ALN initiative, where they agreed that food security without improved nutrition will not deliver the desired inclusive socio-economic outcomes − especially as the number of those affected by hunger and malnutrition has not decreased over the past few years.