The African Union Commission (AUC) and the African Development Bank Group’s African Leaders for Nutrition (ALN) initiative, in collaboration with the government of Senegal, have launched a series of regional consultations that aim to transform nutrition policy and financing and end malnutrition across Africa.
The inaugural two-day consultation for the West Africa region, held in Dakar, Senegal, marks the beginning of an ambitious journey to develop Africa’s first-ever Multisectoral Nutrition Policy Framework (MNPF) and an investment target for combating malnutrition.
The consultation concluded having successfully gathered the data needed to develop MNPF and investment targets, while also building consensus on interventions to reduce stunting, wasting, anaemia, and overweight among women, children, and adolescents.
Additionally, the event generated actionable sector-specific insights and recommendations to inform the MNPF’s development and ensure effective implementation across all sectors.
According to a statement by the AfDB, the event, which held from August 19-20, brought together experts in healthcare, nutrition, education, agriculture, and finance from nine West African countries, as well as representatives of the governments of Senegal, Togo, Ghana, Nigeria, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Côte d’Ivoire among others.
Civil society organisations, UNICEF and the World Food Programme of the United Nations, and development partners Scaling Up Nutrition Movement, the Canadian International Development Agency, and other key nutrition stakeholders were also present at the event.
According to Wolrd Vision, an estimated 20% of the population in Africa is undernourished, with 57 million more people facing hunger since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
