Nutrition is everybody’s concern
More investments are needed in key sectors such as agriculture
16 November 2017, Abidjan – Vice-President of Côte d’Ivoire, Daniel Kablan Duncan, officially opened the Joint FAO-WHO Africa Regional Symposium on Sustainable Food Systems for Healthy Diets and Improved Nutrition. The Vice-President deplored the fact that African countries have a limited intervention capacity in the sector of nutrition and called for increased investments and profitable economic partnerships for the implementation of more supportive policies.
More than 200 participants from 47 African countries including parliamentarians, policy-makers, academicians, researchers, students, civil society and farmers’ organizations, the private sector and development partners gathered in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire for the Symposium with the aim of reviewing evidence, examining policy and programme implications and providing recommendations on how sustainable food systems to optimize improved nutrition outcomes with nutritionally balanced diets and healthy lifestyles in Africa.
Ivorian Minister of Health and Public Hygiene, Raymonde Goudou-Coffie called for "concerted action between public and private sectors". She hoped that new commitments would be made to end the scourge of malnutrition.
Speaking on behalf of Bukar Tijani, the Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Africa, Abebe Haile-Gabriel, Regional Programme Leader for Africa, indicated that the health and nutrition crises in many parts of Africa will continue to grow if radical positive transformation of food systems in the region does not occur.
"Agriculture and food systems must deliver the healthy diets required for optimal nutrition outcomes for our population. In this Decade of Action on Nutrition ”we need to achieve the Nutrition Revolution for Africa to emerge by ensuring healthier diets for optimal nutrition”, Abebe emphasized.
The Africa regional symposium was an opportunity to present the third edition of FAO Regional Overview on Food Security and Nutrition in Sub-Saharan Africa. This publication presents in a concise, succinct and focused way the key findings pertaining to the region, contained in FAO’s State of Food Insecurity in the World 2017 (SOFI) report. It also presents the key undernourishment figures for sub-Saharan Africa and a brief snapshot of the progress that African countries are making to reduce undernourishment and malnutrition.
The new FAO report on Africa marks the start of the monitoring of progress towards the SDG targets of ending hunger and all forms of malnutrition.
The first report on Nutrition in the WHO African Region was also launched at the symposium. In addition to presenting the current status in relation to six global nutrition targets that countries agreed to achieve by 2025, the report highlights important gaps in data for nutrition monitoring. “If we want to know where we’re going, we need to be become better at assessing where we are now,” said Dr Jean Marie Yameogo WHO Representative to Côte d’Ivoire who spoke on behalf of the Regional Director, Dr Matshidiso Moeti.
In a video message, the First Lady of Burkina Faso, highlighted the important role of harnessing Africa’s diverse foods for improving nutrition of women and children in particular in Africa and extended gratitude to FAO Director-General, José Graziano da Silva for the honor done her in advancing this agenda on the continent.
A Decade for action on nutrition (2016-2025)
“FAO gives guidelines, it is up to the countries to change and enforce their food policy”, pointed out Anna Lartey, FAO Director for Nutrition, during the debate sessions of the Symposium.
“Our programmes help countries committing to policies and actions that are tailored to the national context; we encourage reducing food waste, promoting neglected or forgotten crops and indigenous food. Anna Lartey also underlined the importance of investing in farmers’ capacity to produce food and in food safety regulations”, she added.
It is envisaged that by the end of this two-day Symposium we will be able to foster better understanding of the regional dimensions and specificities with regard to food systems for improved nutrition and health in Africa; the forum will recommend practical entry points for concerted policy and programmatic actions for sustained and transformed African food systems for reducing all forms of malnutrition; it will also promote mutual accountability towards meeting regional and global commitments on nutrition (SDG2, ICN2, UN-Decade of Action on Nutrition, WHA targets and Malabo).