Africa adopts plan to reduce malnutrition

A strategic plan to reduce the double burden of malnutrition in the Africa was adopted at the 69th regional committee meeting of the World Health Organization (WHO).

The WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti said that the plan outlines the urgent and accelerated action requited to meet up with the desired goal of ending hunger and all forms of malnutrition by 2030.

“The WHO secretariat will be developing and implementing a resource-mobilization plan, supporting research collaborations and mounting high-level advocacy for increased investment to reach 90 per cent coverage of the 10 highest-impact nutrition interventions that must be taken to meet the malnutrition challenges in our region,” Dr. Moeti said.

He added that the double burden of malnutrition is particularly, prevalent in countries undergoing a nutrition transition in which under-nutrition and over-weight plus obesity coexist, often because of the increasing consumption of cheap, processed foods that are high in energy, fat and salt content, but of poor nutritional quality.

“This diet, which is common in Africa, fails to address chronic under-nutrition and micronutrient deficiencies and contributes to increased obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases,” he said.

The strategic plan, which includes targets to be achieved by 2025, aims to strengthen evidence-based policies and national capacity to implement them.

Priority interventions include reinforcing legislation and food-safety standards, using fiscal measures to incentivize healthy food choices and integrating essential nutrition actions in health service delivery platforms.

The number of under-nourished people in Africa rose from 181 million in 2010 to almost 222 million in 2016.

“Although, the prevalence of stunting decreased from 38.3 per cent in 2000 to 30.3 per cent in 2017 among children younger than five years, the numbers increased from 50.6 million to 58.7 million due to population growth.

“The rate of wasting in 2017 was 7.1 per cent, or 13.8 million children younger than five years, of whom 4 million were severely wasted,” the meeting observed.