Key African leaders on Monday at the African
Development Bank (AfDB) Annual Meeting, in partnership with the Global Panel on
Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition, outlined a vision for a new
high-level effort and shared new data strengthening the economic case for
investment in nutrition across Africa.
“To empower people out of poverty, we must
first invest in the gray matter infrastructure that will truly fuel this
progress—the minds of our children. Nutrition is not just
a health and social development issue, nutrition is an investment that shapes
economic growth for all African nations,” said AfDB President Dr. Akinwumi Adesina. “When the
growth of our children is stunted today—the growth of our economies will be
stunted tomorrow. But when Africa’s children are nourished and can grow, learn,
and earn to their full potential, we will be able to unleash the potential of
the entire continent.”
New analysis released today from
the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition shows
increased investments to meet the World Health Assembly target of reducing
stunting by 40 percent by 2025 could add $83 billion in additional GDP growth
in just 15 sub-Saharan African countries. In Nigeria alone, this includes $29
billion in national income, or a 17 to 1 benefit cost ratio for additional
investments. The full analysis from the Global Panel can be found here.
A new Africa-specific investment framework by the World
Bank and Results for Development showing the costs to
achieve the WHA stunting, wasting, anemia and breastfeeding targets was also
unveiled. Achieving these four global nutrition targets in sub-Saharan Africa
would require an increased investment of approximately $2.7 billion/year for 10
years. Meeting the targets would require increased investment of approximately
$1.8 billion/year from donors and $750 million/year from African governments over
the next decade.
The framework identifies that significant
progress can be made by starting with investment in a subset of high-priority,
most cost-effective interventions, including Vitamin A supplementation,
supportive breastfeeding policies, and food fortification. This subset package
of priority interventions can be implemented across sub-Saharan Africa for an
increased annual investment of approximately $700 million/year over the next 10
years. This would require an increase in spending of approximately $203
million/year from national governments in sub-Saharan Africa and additional
$400 million/year from donors. The full analysis from the World Bank and
Results for Development can be found here.
Highlighting the critical need for political
leadership to take action and invest in these opportunities, Adesina and John
Kufuor, former President of Ghana and co-chair of the Global Panel,
outlined intent to create the African Leaders for Nutrition (ALN),
which aims to bring together Heads of State, Finance Ministers, and leaders
from key sectors across the continent to champion and increased investment in
nutrition.
“The African Leaders for Nutrition 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 Kufuor.
“Not only is it about health, but it is also about economics. The potential
gains are significant and lasting. That’s why we’re calling on leaders across
Africa to join us in elevating the issue of nutrition on the continent and to
make investment a priority.”
Kofi Annan, Chair of the Kofi Annan
Foundation,
praised the effort while highlighting the role agriculture can play in
defeating malnutrition.
“I am delighted to see this effort take shape
for greater leadership, partnership, and investment in nutrition security,”
said Annan. “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. One of the most critical steps we can
take to achieving nutrition security is to transform the continent’s
agricultural sector, because it’s not just about the amount of food that we
grow, it’s also about the type of food that we eat. We need agriculture to be
nutrition-smart, and I am look forward to opportunities for collaboration with
the African Leaders for Nutrition on creating agriculture and food production
systems that are diverse, efficient and resilient in order to meet the
nutritional needs of every community and nation.”
The AFDB’s event in Lusaka also featured
remarks from nutrition champions Jamie Cooper, Chair and President, Big Win
Philanthropy and a representative from the Dangote Foundation, on the
importance of public private partnerships.
In a video message played during the
event, Bill Gates, Co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,
welcomed the formation of the ALN and its potential impact through increased
nutrition investments.
“With African countries leading the way, we
can accelerate progress against malnutrition and unlock the potential of
children everywhere. We have a set of cost effective interventions that, if
scaled up globally, would save 2.2 million lives and reduce the number of
stunted children by 50 million in the next ten years. What we need now is broad
commitment from the highest levels, and African Leaders for Nutrition can play
a critical role in making nutrition a national priority.”
The 23 May event in Lusaka builds on the
Invest in Nutrition event in which Gates joined President
Adesina and global development leaders to launch the first-ever
investment framework for nutrition and lay out research from a new
groundbreaking analysis that gives policymakers and advocates a roadmap for how
the world can accelerate progress against malnutrition. The event was held in
Washington, D.C. during the World Bank Spring Meetings in April.
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