The formation of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) on May 25 1963, was a manifestation of the pan-African vision for an Africa that was united, free and in control of its own destiny.  This was solemnised and captured in the OAU Charterwhich stated that freedom, equality, justice and dignity are essential objectives for the achievement of the legitimate aspirations of the African peoples.

As we commemorate Africa Day, we do so in the context of the 2022 African Union theme - ‘The Year of Nutrition.’ In order to ensure that all African citizens enjoy their hard-won freedom with dignity, we cannot afford to leave behind those that are hungry and malnourished. The Year of Nutrition and Food Security calls for the need to promote understanding among Africa’s peoples and foster cooperation among African states as we work towards the aspirations of the continent through Agenda 2063. Grassroot communities, including community and traditional leaders, make up a critical part of the collective action that will bring about and sustain resilient and inclusive food systems driven by Africa’s own value systems and norms on aspects of responsibility and dignity. It is also about local home-grown solutions.

The statistics on poverty, hunger, and all forms of malnutrition in Africa are staggering. The Continental Nutrition Accountability Scorecard launched by the African Union and the Africa Leaders for Nutrition in 2019 in partnership with AUDA-NEPAD, presents data indicating that:

• In 2020, 281.6 million Africans were estimated to be undernourished, representing an increase of 89.1 million since 2014. This is according to the 2021 edition of the Africa Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition.
• Globally, 150.8 million children under 5 years have stunted growth, and 58.7 million of them are in Africa. Physically stunted children are also mentally stunted, hindering them from reaching their full growth and performance potential.
• Breast feeding rates have continually declined with only 18 countries having at least 50 percent of infants exclusively breastfed.
• Half of the countries in Africa have high vitamin A deficiencies – over 40 percent - in children under five years.
• The Cost of Hunger in Africa studies conducted in 24 countries since 2010, indicate that Member States are losing anywhere from 2-17% of their annual GDP due to child undernutrition. Africa does not have the luxury to lose billions of dollars to something so preventable.

At the same time, overweight, obesity and non-communicable diseases e.g., heart conditions, diabetes, cancers related to poor quality and unhealthy diets are increasing rapidly, worsening morbidity and mortality rates, and making entire populations vulnerable.

Proper nutrition is critical for unlocking human, social and national economic development. No nation can ever grow and reach its development potential and prosperity on the backs of a malnourished population. So, nutrition is the alpha and omega of our very existence and performance. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic plunged hundreds of millions more people into unprecedented food insecurity and malnutrition.

Compounding this worrisome picture, nutrition remains the most misunderstood and under-resourced of programmes. For the longest time nutrition was regarded as a health issue, but it is much more than that. It is a socio-economic development issue.

The systems approach has placed a spotlight on the cross-cutting nature and the inter-dependencies that food systems have with other segments of livelihoods and economic growth.  Food security and nutrition are multisectoral, interdisciplinary issues that span agriculture, education, health, social protection, gender, private sector, trade, finance sectors, as well as environment and climate. Therefore, designing integrated programmes and mainstreaming nutrition and food security across all sectors is imperative. So, the challenge for effective and transformative implementation is to advance integrated approaches. The CAADP-Malabo process, embracing the outcomes of the UN Food Systems Summit, including the Africa Common Position on Food Systems, provides capacities to drive transformative change towards resilient and inclusive food systems.

And speaking of finance, there should be provision in national budgets, for allocation for nutrition to be increased from the unacceptably low 2% of the total annual budget. Clearly the resource allocation is not commensurate with the magnitude of the problem. Something must change. It cannot be business as usual. We must therefore leverage this Year of Nutrition and Food Security to ramp up our investments in nutrition programmes and implementation. This will move us closer to achieving the Malabo targets by 2025, the SDGs by 2030 and the Africa We Want by 2063.

So, what should we do differently going forward? I have a few thoughts to share.

• We should design robust and coherent policies that speak to each other, but more importantly these policies must be translated into tangible action for positive impact.

• We need to ensure that there is adequate contextualised research that seeks to address the priority issues in each country and community to allow for evidence-based policy making.
• Train and build capacities where most needed for action.
• Scale up effective and efficient programme implementation. It is time we moved beyond project mentalities.
• Increase budgets and financing for nutrition programmes – from both public and private sources, to be commensurate with the magnitude of the problem.
• Improve nutrition and food security communications and advocacy to wider audiences at all levels.

I believe that if we all work in tandem and put into action these points, we shall begin to gain an advantage on reducing malnutrition. In this regard, partnerships are key.  No single institution can alone overcome the hunger and malnutrition challenges in Africa. There is an opportunity for all stakeholders including Member States, Regional Economic Communities, Pan African Parliament, Civil Society Organizations, the Private sector, and other partners to forge strong partnerships to foster and secure greater political commitment and more investment to address the current nutrition, food systems and food security challenges.

The Africa Year of Nutrition and Food Security provides us the impetus to act decisively, swiftly and build resilience with sustainability at the core. But one year is not enough to eradicate hunger and malnutrition, I therefore put forward that every year should be a year of addressing Nutrition and Food Security. The time to act is now.

As we celebrate Africa Day, let us continue to stand united as we rally for adequate food and nutrition across our continent. Increased attention and expansion in the production and processing of local-indigenous crops and livestock foods is one component that would impact significantly on strengthening resilience in local food systems to ensure food security. Let us step up our efforts to combat malnutrition and food insecurity and invest more in human capital development and coordinated policy action.

I thank you all.