-Government leaders and stakeholders attending the Africa Union High Level meeting on nutrition in Abidjan, have unanimously adopted the Abidjan declaration of eighth December, 2022.
The Vice President of Cote D’Ivoire, Tiemoko Meyliet Kone says member states are satisfied with the strategic content on nutrition provided on the agenda.
Mr Kone said the deliberations of the meeting demonstrated the need for the continent to optimize and harness resources in order to navigate the challenges that member states are currently facing.
Mr Kone said this after the adoption of the declaration of Abidjan by AU member states.
He said there is urgent need for member states to accelerate and secure benefits in the area of food security and nutrition.
“Our human capital beginning with our children, our future depends largely on the issue of nutrition,” he said.
He observed that there are still people in various parts of Africa who are dying of hunger, a situation that needs to be changed.
And AU Commission Chairperson, Moussa Faki Mahamat said the Abidjan declaration is a call for action to accelerate investment, implementation and coordination in an effort to scale up nutrition and food security in Africa.
Mr Mahamat said the declaration should also be a call for strong commitment to accelerating investment in agriculture, health, sanitation to ensure good nutrition for people on the continent.
He added that there is need to improve the quality of food by accelerating investment in relevant programmes for nations to have a healthy human capital.
Meanwhile, AU Commissioner for Health, Humanitarian Affairs and Social Development Minata Samate outlined the contents of the Abidjan declaration saying the declaration was based on the preamble of the 2022 AU theme on nutrition.
Ms Samate acknowledged the efforts by the President of Cote D’Ivoire Alassane Ouattara who proposed the theme to his counterparts at the 35th session of the African Union Assembly in Ethiopia this year in February.
She also commended the King of Lesotho, King Letsie the third, for championing nutrition specifically on actions undertaken to promote nutrition in Africa.
Ms Samate added that the declaration also highlights the role of champions, while emphasizing the need to act in order to end malnutrition on the African continent.
She said the declaration emphasizes the need for governments to establish robust partnerships in a systematic global coordinated approach with all stakeholders.
The African Union High Level meeting on nutrition which has come to a close in Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire was attended by Vice President Mutale Nalumango and other government leaders.