One out of 4 people in Africa a victim of hunger, WFP says

Kampala. Africa still has some of the highest rates of malnutrition and if nothing is done to curb the high numbers, there will be 40 million children malnourished by the year 2020, Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda, has said.

According to World Food Programme statistics on hunger, Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest prevalence of hunger, with one person in four suffering malnutrition and 23 million primary school age children attending classes hungry.

Speaking at the 6th Africa day for food and nutrition security, Dr Rugunda said the shocking statistics call for interventions to break the cycle. “Hunger and malnutrition are caused by poverty and we know that hungry people cannot be productive and this strains the economy. If nothing is done, there will be 40 million children who are malnourished by the year 2020,” Dr Rugunda said.

Mr Mohamed Ag Bendech, the senior nutrition officer at the Food and Agriculture Organisation, said a lot still needs to be done, especially now that obesity and weight issues are increasing

“As a continent, we must push for increased momentum in cutting rates of stunting, wasting and other forms of malnutrition such as anaemia and vitamin A deficiency. It should be our priority right from the regional to national and family household levels to invest in nutrition,” Mr Ag Bendech said. According to the 2015 global nutrition report, Uganda is on track in eradicating stunting. The report says the rate of child stunting has reduced from 48 per cent in 1988 to 34 per cent in 2012. The report also shows that Uganda is among the 32 countries which are on track in having newly born babies exclusively breastfed.Despite the progress, nine million people are still going hungry every year in the country while 10.9 per cent of the population is under malnourished. Forty four per cent of children are wasted or stunted, 5.6 per cent of the GDP is spent annually to address malnutrition and 54 per cent of adults have suffered stunting as children.

he Office of the Prime Minister released a strategy to help the country reach its set targets in the Nutrition Action Plan. The 2015 – 2019 Strategy focuses on improving the nutrition of children in the first 1,000 days of their lives. (AFP)