African nutrition scientists held a meeting on Tuesday calling on countries to put in place appropriate actions towards addressing all forms of malnutrition in children.
"Malnutrition among children in Africa remained a big challenge that needs remarkable efforts to be addressed, taking into accounts that most countries in the region produce enough food crops annually," said Joyce Kinabo, President of Federation of African Nutrition Societies (FANUS).
Malnutrition is estimated to contribute to more than one third of all child deaths in Africa, despite the fact that most of the Sub-Saharan African countries rely on agriculture, she said when speaking at the third conference on African nutrition, which involved over 1,000 nutritionists from Africa and the rest of the world.
"Let's encourage people to go back to African foods to scale up nutrition status in the continent," the FANUS leader said. "Nutrition in Africa is at the crossroads to reflect and take appropriate action in our battle against all forms of malnutrition. "
"We are encouraging nutrition scientists to heavily embark in promoting the advancement in nutrition science, research and development through international cooperation and encourage communication," she said.
According to Kinabo, in recent years Africa has witnessed a number of civil wars in Sub-Saharan Africa, whereby women and children fall prey of the vice.
"That's why we are suggesting on the need for African leaders to work on the challenge by ensuring that civil wars come to an end," she said.
Alex Mosha, Chairman of Food and Nutrition Association of Tanzania (FONATA), said that the meeting is aimed at creating a platform for scientists to share best practices which will catalyze the transformation of nutrition landscape in Africa.
"The primary purpose of this gathering is to share our experiences in food and nutrition research, planning and advocacy for the betterment of our communities," he said. "Our effort is to scale up nutrition in our countries."
