Champions at the highest level have joined together to end the scourge of stunting.
More than 30% of children in Africa are stunted. While stunting rates have been gradually declining, the absolute number of stunted children is actually increasing because of Africa’s population growth.
Stunting not only crushes individual futures – it also seriously undermines the productivity of communities, regions and nations. President Akinwumi Adesina of the African Development Bank has highlighted the studies showing stunting’s impact on Africa’s economic trajectory: For the continent to achieve a “demographic dividend” over the next 30 years, stunting rates must be dramatically reduced. Business as usual simply is not sufficient to meet the moment.
At President Adesina’s invitation, and inspired by the success of Ethiopia’s Seqota Declaration, the Heads of State of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Niger, and Tanzania formed the Presidential Dialogue Group on Nutrition in order to address stunting at the highest political level. Nigeria subsequently joined the group.
The participating Heads of State signed a declaration “to affirm our commitment to ending childhood stunting in our countries,” and “to accelerate reduction in stunting rates, while serving as an inspiration and blueprint for other countries in Africa and beyond.” The leaders recognized that “high-level political leadership to make nutrition a development priority” is essential to lowering stunting rates, and that it “will require multisectoral collaboration, bringing ministers across the cabinet together to forge collective solutions.”
To put their plans into action, the leaders of the Presidential Dialogue Group on Nutrition countries have committed to:
- Demonstrate and provide high-level political leadership to end stunting in our countries.
- Spearhead the development of multi-sectoral nutrition programs in our countries and across the continent.
- Launch targeted multi-sectoral interventions in the regions of our countries with the highest prevalence of stunting to accelerate progress.
- Develop a robust accountability mechanism to manage, monitor and report progress.
- Work with the African Development Bank, through the African Leaders for Nutrition, and other partners to mobilize financing to support these programs.
- Encourage contributions by other stakeholders to further our national plans to eliminate stunting.
