Turn political commitment into action to meet nutritional goals in Africa, urges Nutrition Champion | African Development Bank

King Letsie III of Lesotho has urged African leaders to turn commitments into action to meet regional and international development goals.

The monarch addressed a high-level meeting on food financing organized by the African Union from 23-24 March. He stressed the urgency of adequate funding to end hunger and malnutrition in all its forms as a precondition for achieving the goals of the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

King Letsie, African Union nutrition champion and also African leader for nutrition (ALN), said: “Failure to translate political commitment into action remains a key reason for the low priority national governments give to food and nutrition interventions. Therefore, generating political commitment at the country level and turning those commitments into action, backed by adequate financial and human resources, will be critical to accelerating the progress we make towards the 2025 targets.”

The king praised the African Leaders for Nutrition (ALN) initiative for giving heads of state the opportunity to “demonstrate and provide high-level political leadership in their respective countries”, and for rolling out multi-sectoral nutrition programs directly managed by their offices are coordinated.

“African nutrition leaders, of which I am a part, are at the forefront of using the African Year of Nutrition Declaration to create the necessary political momentum and legislative, policy and budgetary mechanisms to address malnutrition in Africa. The ALN is also working closely with the African Union Commission to promote the development of a multisectoral policy framework and a nutrition finance target that can unlock resources for nutrition programming,” he added.

Africa, the continent with the highest percentage of stunted children in the world, is struggling to combat malnutrition. Despite regional and national efforts to tackle malnutrition, nearly 4 in 10 of the world’s stunted children live in Africa, the majority in just 15 countries.

Studies show that for every $1 invested in nutrition, there is a $16 socio-economic return, making investing in the nutrition of African people not only critical to creating a healthy and productive society, but also an economic necessity which should be central to the transformation of Africa journal.

“Family photo” of participants during the High Level Dialogue on Food Finance in Maseru, Kingdom of Lesotho; March 24, 2023

The African Development Bank’s Feed Africa strategic priority has made eradicating hunger and malnutrition one of its four main goals. The strategy sees food and agriculture as a business and wealth-creating enterprise.

“As part of the strategy, the bank supports countries to improve productivity while investing in viable, climate-smart, technology-enabled SMEs owned by youth and women along priority agricultural and food value chains,” Dr. Martha Phiri Director, Human Capital Youth Skills and Development at the African Development Bank said.

“The food industry in Africa is expected to reach a trillion by 2030, and for countries that position themselves well, this will create an opportunity for better nutrition, more intra-African trade, jobs and prosperity for youth and women, and more fiscal returns. ”

The meeting culminated in a call to action for increased investment in health nutrition; water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH); education; food; and social protection systems, as well as for better food systems and nutrition governance and responsibility.