Bukola Afeni
The West African Health Organization has called for increased political commitment and investment in food and nutrition security.
The Director General of the West African Health Organisation(WAHO), Dr Melchior Athanase Joel Codjovi Aissi stated this at the 17th ECOWAS Nutrition Forum in Abuja.
The theme of the program is “Leveraging Sustainable Financing for Multisectoral Approaches: Accelerate Universal Access to Nutritious, Safe, Affordable and Sustainable Diets.
The Representative of the Director General reiterated the need for West African Countries to eradicate hunger and malnutrition in the region.
” We want to improve nutrition indices to leverage on the health sector reform and ensure the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals’, he said.
In the same vein, he added that multi-sectorial approaches are essential for coordinating nutrition intervention at all levels.
“We need to develop comprehensive multi-sectorial responses, (health, education, water resources, social protection, and coordinated collaboration with development partners, private sector, the academia, civil societies, and communities”, he noted.
The Chairman of the Local Organizing Committee of the 17th ECOWAS Nutrition Forum, and Director and Head Nutrition, Federal Ministry of Health, Dr Binyerem Ukaire, said nutrition statistics available need to be improved, so as to ensure the attainment of the sustainable development goals.
“The statistics is showing that there is Anaemia in children, stunting, wasting, and other forms of malnutrition. This is evidenced by under nutrition, over nutrition, and micro nutrition deficiency. If we must meet the sustainable development goals, urgent action must be taken in terms of nutrition.
She said the objective of the forum is to ensure that countries in the West Africa sub region are not lagging behind in terms of nutrition development.
” We are here to share experiences from all countries, to take a look at how far the countries has gone and areas we need to improve. The lessons are then taken back to bring about positive changes in terms of nutrition”, she noted.
UNICEF Regional Nutrition Advisor, Dr Simeon Namana, noted that child food poverty must be addressed in the West African sub region.
” The leaders must increase and sustain national investment in nutrition.We must ensure that our children have access to quality food.We recently discover that children are missing animal sources of food in the region. This must be addressed urgently.
“Stakeholders in the nutrition sector need to mobilize food, health,and social protection systems to deliver and be more accountable to nutrition”, Namana noted.
