One in three African children are stunted and hunger accounts for more than 30 percent of child deaths across the continent, an Addis Ababa-based think tank has said.
In an urgent call for action, a study by the African Child Policy Forum (ACPF) said that nearly 60 million children in Africa do not have enough food despite the continent’s economic growth.
A child dies every three seconds globally due to food deprivation — 10,000 children every day — but although figures show an improvement in child hunger at a global level, it is getting worse in some parts of Africa, where the problem is largely a question of political will.
Nine out of 10 African children do not meet the criteria for minimum acceptable diet outlined by the WHO, and two out of five do not eat meals regularly.
Liberia, Congo and Chad are at the bottom of the chart when it comes to children aged 6 to 23 months receiving sufficient and diverse food with a healthy frequency. They are followed by Zimbabwe, Guinea-Bissau, the Gambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
“Child hunger is fundamentally a political problem,” ACPF executive director Assefa Bequele said. “It is the offspring of the unholy alliance of political indifference, unaccountable governance and economic mismanagement. Persistent and naked though the reality is, it remains a silent tragedy, one that remains largely unacknowledged and tolerated, perhaps because it is a poor man’s problem.”
“It is completely unacceptable that children are still going hungry in Africa in the 21st century,” Bequele added. “The statistics are truly alarming. Child hunger is driven by extreme poverty, uneven and unequal economic growth, gender inequality and a broken food system. Although Africa now produces more food than ever, it hasn’t resulted in better diets.”
Hunger impairs growth and cognitive development of children, but also hits the economic performance of the country they come from. Child hunger can cost African countries almost 17 percent of their GDP, according to the report. The continent’s present GDP is estimated to have been reduced by 10 percent because of stunting alone.
Annually, child hunger costs Ethiopia 16.5 percent of its GDP. The rate for Rwanda is 11.5 percent.
The report said that “for every dollar invested in reducing stunting, there is a return of about US$22 in Chad, US$21 in Senegal, and US$17 in Niger and Uganda,” and if the investment was made early in the child’s life, the return rates could be higher: up to US$85 in Nigeria, US$80 in Sudan and US$60 in Kenya.
By 2050, Africa could have 1 billion undernourished, malnourished and hungry children if levels continue unabated. More than half of African countries are off course to meet targets required in the African regional nutrition strategy (2015 to 2025).
Just nine countries are on track to meet the target of reducing stunting by 40 percent by 2025.
Conflict and the climate crisis have exacerbated child hunger in Africa, with three out of four of the continent’s stunted children under the age of five living in war zones.
In 2017, more than 8 million people in Ethiopia, 5 million in Malawi, 4 million in Zimbabwe and 3 million in Kenya were affected by acute food insecurity caused by issues relating to the climate crisis.
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