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By Joseph Adahnu, Yola
Measures have been adopted to offer skills and ability for Nigeria and other African leaders to tackle hunger and insecurity.
This is coming from a non governmental organization, OXFAM International calling on African leaders who are presently meeting in Ethiopia to proffer solutions amid worsening hunger and malnutrition threatening sustainable development in the continent.
In a statement by Oxfam Communications Officer, Rita Abiodun, one out five people in Africa are now under-nourished noting that 93 million people in 36 African countries are extremely suffering from hunger.
She pointed out that, “Women and children are hit hardest. In sub-Sahara Africa, one in three children under five are stunted by chronic undernutrition while two out of five women of childbearing age are anaemic because of poor diets.
“By the UN estimates that food prices in sub-Sahara Africa are now 30-40% higher than the rest of the world,taking into account comparative levels of GDP per capital.
“The triple threat of the climate crisis, COVID-19 and conflict will require an extraordinary response from African leaders. Many countries have already taken important steps, increasing investment in healthcare, providing shock responsive social protection systems and empowering local,Women led, peace building initiatives. However, such actions are still too few and far between.
According to her, “People are having to skip meals to feed their children, selling livestock and other assets, begging, pulling children out of school or harvesting immature crops. Over 3 million people in Somalia have recently migrated, in larger part because of hunger, while million of households in pastoralist communities in Chad, Benin, Niger, Mali and Mauritania say they are having to sell more animals than they otherwise would to pay more food.”
