Hunger still a killer in Africa, forum told

It is not easy to imagine that 12 people die every minute on the African continent from malnutrition and that one in every four people on the continent are undernourished.

That is the message delivered at a conference hosted by the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) in Johannesburg on Tuesday where such terms as “stunting and wasting away ‘’ got great prominence.

The meeting delivered the message that Good food is power. If fed properly, even people who are seriously ill with Aids can recover enough strength to resume normal life within two weeks.

The meeting was addressed by Mr Jay Naidoo, chairman of the Development Bank of South Africa, Mr Aouelle Aka, Cote d’Ivoire’s Minister of Health and Public Hygiene and Mrs Ida Odinga, wife of Kenya’s Prime Minister.

Also in attendance was Ms Graca Machel of Mozambique and South Africa.

Malawian nutrition expert, Dr Mary Shawa told of major strides by the country in the last four years in battling malnutrition.

Currently, 44 per cent of the Malawian population can be described as malnourished. The figure was 50 per cent five years ago.

The target is to reduce the figure to below 30 per cent.Previously in Malawi, “every 14 seconds, one person was dying of malnutrition, a figure that is now down to only two.’’

In Malawi, there was the highest political commitment to battling malnutrition with the President, Mr Bingu wa Mutharika leading the campaign as the Minister of Nutrition.

Addressing the meeting, Mrs Odinga called for the establishment of a ‘’truly African movement’’ to battle malnutrition through fortification of basic foods and addition of vitamins.

She said: “The poorest need to consume foods that are rich in vitamins. Porridge should not just be flour and water.’’

Mrs Odinga said she will lead an advocacy programme on nutrition in Kenya.

“If the political leadership understood that there was a problem then they could do something about it. In Kenya, most politicians are focused on their own political survival and some of these things we are talking about, they have never heard, especially among our parliamentarians.’’

In his speech, Mr Rob Davies, South Africa’s Minister of Trade and Industry said “Food fortification is an intervention that works. “Add iodine to salt, add vitamins in grains’’. He said 70 per cent of maize meal sold in South Africa is fortified.

But, he said, “poverty and unemployment go together.’’ He said that in South Africa, there is “serious unemployment and serious inequality adding that as many as 30 per cent of the population have no gainful employment.