Progress Toward Meeting Nutrition Targets in Africa

Presented by M. Ag Bendech, 19 October 2016, Accra (Ghana )

The scale of the problem of malnutrition in Africa (GNR 2016)

• 163.6 million children and women of reproductive age are anemic

• 58 million children under age five are too short for their age (stunting)

• 13.9 million under 5’s weigh too little for their height (wasting)

• 10.3 million under 5’s are overweight• 8 percent of adults over 20 years are

obese.

The Multiple Burdens of Malnutrition in African Countries

The annual cost of undernutrition in 7 African countries (www.costofhungerafrica.com)

Ethiopia Rwanda Malawi Burkina Faso

Ghana Uganda Swaziland

16.5

11.5 10.37.7

6.3 5.63.1

Annual cost of undernutrition (% of GDP)

Investing in nutrition: a wise investment

Meeting the Malabo stunting target : the status(countries ranked on stunting prevalence in %)

On course, good progress Off course, some progress Off course, no progress Insufficient data to make

assessment

Countries ranked according to stunting (%), lowest to highest prevalence, and

assessment of progress towards WHA Global Nutrition 2025 target (stunting)

 Rank CountryStuntinggg 

% Rank Country  Stunting % Rank Country Stuntin

g %

1 Seychelles 7.9 19 Togo 27.5 37 Tanzania 34.7

2 Tunisia 10.1 20 Zimbabwe 27.6 38 Sierra Leone 37.9

3 Algeria 11.7 21 Guinea-Bissau 27.6 39 Rwanda 37.9

4 Morocco 14.9 22 Angola 29.2 40 Sudan 38.2

5 Gabon 17.5 23 Cote d'Ivoire 29.6 41 Mali 38.5

6 Ghana 18.8 24 South Sudan 31.1 42 Chad 38.7

7 Senegal 19.4 25 Guinea 31.3 43 Zambia 40

8 Libya 21 26 Botswana 31.4 44 Ethiopia 40.4

9 Mauritania 22 27 Sao Tome and Principe 31.6 45 Central African Republic 40.7

10 Egypt 22.3 28 Comoros 32.1 46 Malawi 42.4

11 Namibia 23.1 29 Liberia 32.1 47 DRC 42.6

12 South Africa 23.9 30 Cameroon 32.6 48 Niger 43

13 Gambia 24.5 31 Burkina Faso 32.9 49 Mozambique 43.1

14 Congo 25 32 Nigeria 32.9 50 Madagascar 49.2

15 Swaziland 25.5 33 Lesotho 33.2 51 Eritrea 50.3

16 Somalia 25.9 34 Djibouti 33.5 52 Burundi 57.5

17 Kenya 26 35 Benin 34   Cape Verde No data

18 Equatorial Guinea 26.2 36 Uganda 34.2   Mauritius No data

On course, good progress Off course, some progress Off course, no progress Insufficient data to make assessment

Countries ranked according to exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) of infants <6 months (%), highest to lowest prevalence, and assessment of progress towards WHA EBF target

Rank Country  EBF Rank Country  EBF Rank Country  EBF

1 Rwanda 87 19 DRC 47.6 36 Algeria 25.7

2 Sao Tome & Principe 73.8 20 Gambia 46.8 37 Niger 23.3

3 Zambia 72.5 21 South Sudan 45.1 38 Mauritius 21

4 Malawi 70.2 22 Swaziland 44.1 39 Guinea 20.5

5 Burundi 69.3 23 Madagascar 41.9 40 Botswana 20.3

6 Eritrea 68.7 24 Benin 41.4 41 Nigeria 17.4

7 Lesotho 66.9 25 Tanzania 41.1 42 Comoros 12.1

8 Uganda 63.2 26 Mozambique 41 42 Cote d'Ivoire 12.1

9 Kenya 61.4 26 Zimbabwe 41 43 Tunisia 8.5

10 Cape Verde 59.6 27 Egypt 39.7 44 South Africa 8.3

11 Togo 57.5 28 Mali 37.8 45 Equatorial Guinea 7.4

12 Sudan 55.4 29 Central African Republic 34 46 Gabon 6

13 Liberia 55.2 30 Senegal 33 47 Somalia 5.3

14 Guinea-Bissau 52.5 31 Congo 32.9 48 Djibouti 1.3

15 Ghana 52.3 32 Sierra Leone 32 49 Chad 0.3

16 Ethiopia 52 33 Cameroon 28.2 Angola No data

17 Burkina Faso 50.1 34 Morocco 27.8 Libya No data

18 Namibia 48.5 35 Mauritania 26.9 Seychelles No data

On course Off course, some progress

Off course, no progress Insufficient data to make assessment

Rank Country Wasting % Rank Country  Wasting % Rank Country  Wasting %

1 Swaziland 2 19 Senegal 5.8 37 Egypt 9.5

2 Rwanda 2.2 20 Cameroon 5.8 38 Guinea 9.9

3 Morocco 2.3 21 Congo 5.9 39 Burkina Faso 10.9

4 Tunisia 2.8 22 Bissau 6 40 Comoros 11.1

5 Lesotho 2.8 23 Mozambique 6.1 41 Sao Tome and Principe 11.2

6 Equatorial Guinea 3.1 24 Burundi 6.1 42 Gambia 11.5

7 Zimbabwe 3.3 25 Zambia 6.3 43 Mauritania 11.6

8 Gabon 3.4 26 Libya 6.5 44 Somalia 14.9

9 Tanzania 3.8 27 Togo 6.7 45 Eritrea 15.3

10 Malawi 3.8 28 Namibia 7.1 46 Mali 15.3

11 Kenya 4 29 Botswana 7.2 47 Chad 15.7

12 Algeria 4.1 30 Central African Republic 7.4 48 Sudan 16.3

13 Seychelles 4.3 31 Cote d'Ivoire 7.6 49 Niger 18.7

14 Uganda 4.3 32 Nigeria 7.9 50 Djibouti 21.5

15 Benin 4.5 33 DRC 8.1 51 South Sudan 22.7

16 Ghana 4.7 34 Angola 8.2 Cape Verde No data

17 South Africa 4.7 35 Ethiopia 8.7 Madagascar No data

18 Liberia 5.6 36 Sierra Leone 9.4 Mauritius No dataOn course Off course Insufficient data to make assessment

Countries ranked according to wasting (%), lowest to highest prevalence, and assessment of progress towards WHA target

Countries ranked according to anaemia (%), lowest to highest prevalence, and assessment of progress towards WHA target

 Rank  Country   Anaemia  Rank  Country   Anaemia  Rank  Country   Anaemia 

1 Rwanda 17.4 19 Sudan 31.5 36 Equatorial Guinea 45.4 2 Ethiopia 19.2 20 Madagascar 31.8 37 Central African Republic 46 3 Burundi 20.9 21 Algeria 32.7 38 Chad 46.6 4 Seychelles 21.2 21 Namibia 32.7 39 Niger 46.7 5 Mauritius 23.4 22 Eritrea 32.8 40 Guinea 48.4 6 Kenya 25 23 Morocco 33.1 41 Nigeria 48.5 7 Uganda 26.7 24 Egypt 34.5 42 Cote d'Ivoire 48.8 8 Lesotho 26.8 25 Cape Verde 37.9 43 DRC 49 9 Djibouti 27.1 26 Mauritania 39 44 Liberia 49.3

10 South Africa 27.6 27 Tanzania 39.6 45 Burkina Faso 49.5 11 Swaziland 27.8 28 Cameroon 41.5 46 Benin 49.6 12 Libya 27.9 29 Somalia 42.6 47 Congo 50.7 13 Tunisia 28 30 Sao Tome and Principe 42.7 48 Gabon 50.8 14 Zimbabwe 28.4 31 Mozambique 44.2 49 Togo 52.7 15 Botswana 28.5 32 Guinea-Bissau 44.6 50 Mali 56.2 16 Malawi 28.8 33 Angola 44.8 51 Ghana 56.4 17 Zambia 29.2 34 Sierra Leone 45.2 52 Senegal 57.5 18 Comoros 30.8 35 Gambia 45.3 South Sudan No data

Note: Anaemia % is most recent estimate (2011) from Stevens et al, 2013. Key

On course Off course Insufficient data to make assessment

Underlying drivers of improved nutrition status

Thresholds for underlying drivers

Underlying driver Threshold corresponding to a

prediction of stunting prevalence of <15%

Unit

Total per capita calories in food supply

2800 Kilocalories

Calories from non-staples in food supply

50 Percent

Access to piped water 69 PercentAccess to improved sanitation 76 PercentFemale secondary school enrollment rate

81 Percent

Ratio of female to male life expectancy

1.072 Ratio

Number of African countries by number of vulnerabilities

Number  of Vulnerabilities

Number ofCountries

Names of countries

0 0/61 0/142 4/14 Algeria, Egypt, South Africa, Tunisia3 0/144 3/4 Botswana, Morocco, Sao Tome and Principe5 6/11 Benin, CAR, Ghana, Mauritania, Namibia, Uganda6 27/35 Angola, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Congo,

Cote d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Gabon, The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, DRC, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, Tanzania, Zimbabwe

Africa is off track to meet the nutrition targets of Malabo Declaration and Global targets but there is hope

The ingredients for success are well known… ...and can

lead to rapid improvements in nutrition.

Political leadership& SMART

commitment

BrazilEthiopiaKenya

Maharashtra

Nutrition-oriented

development

Bangladesh Colombia Ghana

Tanzania

Data Systems

GuatemalaIndonesia

Peru

Strong implementation

ArgentinaBurkina Faso

Chile

Commitment by African Countries

The African Leaders for Nutrition (ALN)

Malabo Declaration:  Bring down stunting to 10% 

and underweight to 5% by 2025

Initiative for Food and Nutrition Security in Africa (IFNA) 

2nd International Conference on Nutrition: Framework for Action and the  UN Decade of Action on Nutrition

Conclusion

• Make the right political choice—supported by SMART commitments for accountability

• Current commitments do not match the need• we need a blend of nutrition specific, and nutrition

sensitive actions, supported by an enabling environment

• Predictable and dedicated nutrition financing is essential: Invest more and allocate better

• Reject business as usual• Invested in more and better data

Thank you