Forum in Dakar highlights nutritional challenges in West Africa
A forum highlighting nutritional challenges in the Central and West Africa regions has taken place in Dakar, Senegal.
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The forum, which also mapped out strategies for solutions to the challenges, was organised by the Central and West African Regional office of Nestle (CWAR) and brought together experts in nutrition, scientists, specialist institutions and public health authorities from Ghana, Nigeria, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Gabon, Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire and Cameroun.
A specialist in Public Health, Dr Ndeye Khady Toure, spoke on nutritional challenges in Central and West Africa. He said among obstacles facing the international community today, few competed with malnutrition, a condition which directly affected one in three people in Africa.
Risk factors
He said malnutrition manifested itself in many ways ranging from growth and development problems in children to people who have only skin on their bones, to those who are less resistant to infections and to people who are overweight or at risk of contracting chronic diseases because they consume too much salt, sugar or fat, or are deficient in important vitamins and minerals.
Quoting the 2016 Global Nutrition Report, he said malnutrition and poor diets were by far the biggest risk factors for the global burden of disease: all countries face a serious public health problem due to malnutrition.
According to him, the economic consequences represented losses of 11 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) each year in Africa and Asia, while the prevention of malnutrition generated $16 dollars of return on investment for every dollar spent.
These figures, he said, meant that the burden of malnutrition affected all, “whether we suffer directly or not”.
However, he said these costs also represented vast opportunities for improving the human and economic situation, and that many countries had seized opportunities presented to improve the lives of their people and the health of their societies by fighting malnutrition.
He was of the view that much remained to be done, saying it was up to government leaders, donors, civil society organisations and businesses to ensure that this political choice would end all forms of malnutrition.
Dr Toure said the commitment of all was crucial and must be supported by clear actions and investments in the fight against malnutrition.
Nutrition challenges
The General Business Manager, Nestle Senegal, Mr Xavier Beraud, said addressing nutritional challenges was both an individual and collective responsibility since individuals, families and communities could not meet those challenges on their own.
He said although poor families were increasingly aware of the importance of a balanced diet and the consequences of having an unbalanced diet, access to information was low and as such there was the need for public authorities in nutrition to promote education on nutrition for the population by informing them in order to prevent diseases linked to malnutrition.
To accomplish this task, he said, governments could count on collaboration from non-governmental organisations, private companies, the media and civil society as well as all who understand that nutrition is a key public health issue.
A representative of the Senegalese Minister of Health and Social Action, Dr Maty Dagne Camara, said: “In keeping to the raw numbers, the food and nutritional situation in sub-Saharan Africa gave the image over the decades of a permanent human tragedy.”
Double burden of malnutrition
She said food production was struggling to improve while population growth remained strong and the nutritional status of populations appeared to be deteriorating.
“We firmly believe that nutrition policies in our countries which are developing need to be reviewed by taking into account the double nutritional burden,” adding that today, the world is facing two forms of "malnutrition" and this appears to be contradictory: Undernutrition which includes micronutrient deficiencies and overnutrition leading to obesity and its consequences on health.
Dr Camara added that in addition to chronic and severe undernutrition, the "nutritional transition" in low and middle-income countries, propelled by globalisation, urbanisation, technological change and overnutrition, was leading to a dramatic increase in obesity and other chronic diseases - predominantly diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.
She said today, it was no longer sub-nutrition alone that posed enormous challenges, but rather the double burden of malnutrition.
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