Annan roots for child nutrition in Africa

Former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan (right) with former Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa at a press conference in Nairobi on October 11, 2012. PHOTO | STEPHEN MUDIARI | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Meeting comes up with plan for African Leaders for Nutrition forum.

LUSAKA

Former United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan yesterday urged African leaders to invest in “nutrition-smart” agriculture to end the continent’s malnutrition problem.

Speaking at a special forum in Lusaka, Zambia at the 51st annual conference of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Mr Annan, who is also chairman of the Kofi Annan Foundation, said malnutrition remains a major barrier to development in many African nations, “but we have global consensus on what targets we need to reach, along with a roadmap for action”.

Those targets include creating agriculture and food production systems that are “diverse, efficient and resilient” in order to meet the nutritional needs of the continent’s poor, Mr Annan said.

His sentiments were echoed by Mr John Kufuor, former president of Ghana, who asked African leaders to elevate the issue of nutrition and make investment in it “a priority”.

”Not only is it about health,” said Mr Kufuor, “but also economics. The potential gains are significant and lasting.”

The former presidents, while highlighting the need for political leadership to chaperone nutrition initiatives, hailed plans to create the African Leaders for Nutrition (ALN) forum, which will bring together heads of state, finance ministers, and civil society.

”The ALN will be an opportunity for heads of state and ministers to use their voices to commit, their actions to invest, and their positions to truly lead,” said Mr Kufuor.

EXPECTED LATER

It was not clear yesterday whether President Uhuru Kenyatta would be an automatic member of the ALN by virtue of Kenya’s relationship with the AfDB.

The bank’s president, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, said Africa could achieve nutrition security through increased investments and public-private partnerships.

”To empower people out of poverty,” said Dr Adesina, “we must first invest in the gray matter infrastructure that will truly fuel this progress—the minds of our children.”

Dr Adesina said nutrition is not just a health and social development issue, but an investment that shapes economic growth for all African nations. “When the growth of our children is stunted today, the growth of our economies will be stunted tomorrow,” he warned.

A research paper presented at the forum showed that malnutrition costs African economies between three and 16 per cent of Gross Domestic Product annually. The paper, titled The Economics of Reducing Malnutrition in Sub-Saharan Africa, noted that for a typical African country, “every dollar (Sh100) invested in reducing chronic under-nutrition in children yields a $16 return (Sh1,600).

“These findings are significant as they are likely to reshape debate on African economic development strategies, which has long assumed that investments in the formal education system alone could be enough to increase the quality of human capital.

“That is only partially true,” cautioned Mr John Hoddinott of Cornell University in the US and lead author of the report. “Investments in nutrition—particularly that of very young children—are equally important.”

The AfDB estimates that 56 million African children under the age of five, or 36 per cent of the demographic, are chronically undernourished.

As of 2013, no country had a stunting prevalence of less than 19 per cent.

Yesterday, Mr Bill Gates, in a video message to the delegates in Lusaka, welcomed the formation of the African Leaders for Nutrition network, which he said could “accelerate progress against malnutrition and unlock the potential of children everywhere”.

Mr Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said such a network of committed political leaders, civil society and philanthropists could play a critical role in making nutrition a national priority.