Niger joins call for increased efforts to end the plight of child under nutrition

The economy of Niger is losing 289 billion CFA francs (US$539 million) more than 7 percent of annual GDP to the effects of child undernutrition.

This has been verified by results of the Cost of Hunger Study which is led by the African Union in collaboration with NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency (NPCA), with support from the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). The study is conducted in fulfillment of the 2014 Malabo Declaration to reduce stunting and malnutrition by 10 and 5 percent by 2025.

The Cost of Hunger in Niger attributes the losses to the increased healthcare costs, additional burdens on the education system and, further down the line, reduced workforce productivity.

The new study findings also show that:

• 48.2 percent of the adult population in Niger were affected by stunting as children
• 42.7 percent of infant mortality cases in Niger are associated with undernutrition
• Children suffering from stunting have a repetition rate of 19.8 percent against only 8.1 percent for those not suffering from stunting

The Cost of Hunger in Niger calls for nutrition to be made a national priority in the national plans, as well as increased resource mobilization to ensure these plans are implemented.

“It is imperative that Niger invests in nutrition for sustainable economic growth and our objective is to reduce acute malnutrition and stunting below the WHO alert thresholds,” said His Excellency Albade Abouba, the Minister of State, Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry of Niger during the launch of the report. He further called for increased commitment to achieve the nutriton targets contained in the global 2030 Agenda and Africa Agenda 2063.

“WFP is committed to continue fighting alongside the government to address all the challenges of malnutrition and food insecurity in Niger,” Sory OUANE, Director and Representative of WFP in Niger concluded.

The Cost of Hunger in Africa (COHA) study has so far been conducted in 16 countries. The findings from these countries show that losses associated with child undernutrition ranges from 1.9 percent to 16.5 percent of GDP per year.

Read and download the report Cost of Hunger in Africa

Original source: AU
Published on 12 December 2018