The Global Nutrition Summit 2017 ended in the city of Milan,
Italy, with Aliko Dangote Foundation joining
global crusade with a pledge of $100m for Nigeria, reports NaijaAgroNet.
The Aliko Dangote Foundation, NaijaAgroNet gathered is on a
mission to reduce the prevalence of undernutrition by 60 percent in the most
needy areas of Nigeria, specifically the North East and North West.
The summit which convened governments, international
agencies, foundations, civil society organisations and businesses to accelerate
the global response to malnutrition, underlined the cause of nearly half of all
global child deaths.
NaijaAgroNet reports
that a major highlight of the Summit was the pledge by the Aliko Dangote
Foundation to invest US$100 million over five years to tackle malnutrition in
the worst-affected parts of Nigeria.
“The Aliko Dangote Foundation is the philanthropic
organization of Aliko Dangote, founder and Executive Chairman of the Dangote Group, Africa’s largest homegrown
conglomerate.
The Global Nutrition Summit is the global forum of the
United Nations Decade of Action on Nutrition (2016-2026).
This year’s edition, NaijaAgroNet reports was held in
close partnership with a number of international stakeholders including the
U.K.’s Department for International Development, the World Health Organization,
the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation and the International Coalition on Advocacy for
Nutrition.
The governments of Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso and
Zambia all made commitments to expand their nutrition programmes and the Summit
succeeded in galvanizing US3.4 billion according to the organisers.
Malnutrition affects every country in the world in various
forms, however Africa is particularly hard hit and Nigeria is home to the
highest numbers of malnourished children.
Almost half of the one million children who die before the
age of five every year in Nigeria, die of malnutrition as the underlying cause.
Without the proper nutrients during the first 1,000 days of life starting from
conception up to their second birthday, children are less likely to survive
childhood diseases such as malaria and pneumonia, and are less likely to escape
poverty as adults.
Experts say, these children become physically and
cognitively stunted, a fate that has befallen 11 million of Nigeria’s children
under five.
The Aliko Dangote Foundation’s Managing Director and CEO
Zouera Youssoufou said: “Nigeria’s high malnutrition rate is undermining
progress towards improving child health and survival and putting the brakes on
economic development. By investing in nutrition, we aim to directly improve the
lives of Nigerian families and to empower our citizens to reach their full
potential.”
The Global Nutrition Report 2017, launched at the Summit,
showed that, in spite of progress, 155 million children globally are still
stunted and the world is off track on meeting internationally agreed nutrition
targets. Financing to tackle malnutrition has been alarmingly low. Donors spend
about 0.5 percent of overseas aid on nutrition, and countries allocate between
one and two percent of their health budgets to the issue.
“The global malnutrition crisis endangers the physical and
mental wellbeing of present and future generations” said Kofi Annan, speaking
at the summit in his capacity as Chair of the Kofi Annan Foundation. “Progress
in tackling both undernutrition and obesity is possible with targeted
commitments, like those made here today. We need further urgent investments so
that people, communities and nations can reach their full potential.”
Through his Foundation, since 1993, Aliko Dangote has made
significant social investments in health, education, economic empowerment and
disaster relief. He is now becoming the strongest voice for nutritional
leadership nationally and on the continent of Africa. By making this
unprecedented US$100 Million commitment, the Aliko Dangote Foundation is on a
mission to reduce the prevalence of undernutrition by 60 percent in the most
needy areas of Nigeria, specifically the North East and North West, where
malnutrition has affected millions of lives and crippled the local economy.
