Four African countries have agreed to use revenues from extractive industries to fight against child malnutrition, reports NaijaAgroNet.
These countries include the Republic
of Congo, Guinea, Mali and Niger today announced a new fund for the fight
against malnutrition.
This was made known in New York
today to NaijaAgroNet at the launch of UNITLIFE; a new innovative financing
mechanism that uses micro levies from extractive industries to increase
resources for the fight again malnutrition in sub-Saharan Africa.
Under UNITLIFE, participating
nations with abundant natural resources will invest a small portion of revenues
derived from the sale of oil, gas and mining towards a UNICEF-hosted fund
dedicated to improving child nutrition. For example, the Republic of Congo will
contribute $0.10 per barrel of oil sold by its national state oil company.
“This is the first fund based on an
innovative financing mechanism being launched only days after the new
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted at the United Nations,” said
Philippe Douste-Blazy, the architect of the initiative and an
Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and the Special Adviser to the
Secretary-General on Innovative Financing for Development.
“I am delighted that a number of
African governments accepted this idea because we have already proven with the
air ticket levy that innovative financing works and generates results. I also
want to thank UNICEF for agreeing to host the initiative,” Douste-Blazy said.
Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, President of
the Republic of Mali and one of the first supporters of the fund, said: “I am
very pleased that Mali is one of the founders of this innovative financing
mechanism because we want to scale-up the fight against child malnutrition in
our country and in the region.”
“Chronic malnutrition in sub-Saharan
Africa affects more than 1 in 3 children under the age of five, stunting their
growth and threatening their cognitive capacity, thus limiting their
opportunities in life,” said Yoka Brandt, UNICEF Deputy Executive Director.
“New and innovative financing mechanisms can make a big difference in the fight
against malnutrition.”
Robert Filipp, President of the
Innovative Finance Foundation (IFF), who spearheaded the work on the fund
design, said, “This fund has real game changing potential. If all countries
with oil, gas and mines joined, we would have a real chance to eliminate
malnutrition.”
Although financing commitments to nutrition
have increased in recent years, around $50 billion are still needed over the
next 10 years to reach the World Health Assembly target of reducing the number
of children under the age of five who are stunted by 40 per cent by 2025.
@Isaac Oyimah/GEE +Remmy Nweke (ITRealms) +Naija AgroNet @UN
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