Milan, Italy, October 21, 2015 - Parliamentarians from across Africa on Wednesday called for assistance in clearly understanding both the causes and consequences of malnutrition in their countries. Speaking to participants on the margins of the global Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Meeting in Milan, Italy, several parliamentarians said that while there was a genuine desire to arrest malnutrition in their constituencies, the lack of country-specific information hampered their interventions. They added that a further complication was that when information was provided to government representatives, it was often jargon-heavy, which served to obscure the real situation on the ground.

The parliamentary exchange was part of a broader dialogue between various stakeholders involved in the field of food security and nutrition.

According to the 2015 Global Nutrition Report launched earlier, the nutrition problems facing Africa are complex. Thirty six of the 54 countries are experiencing the conventional burdens of stunting in children under five and/or anemia in women of reproductive age. Thirteen countries, however, are facing serious publichealth issues of undernutrition and overweight simultaneously.

Addressing the audience, NEPAD Senior Food Security and Nutrition Advisor Isatou Jallow said, "The role of proper data is critical in the drive to ensure that every child receives the right nutrition. Parliamentarians are the gateway to government action and can be effective advocates for budgetary changes, but we should also note that parliamentarians are equally accountable to their constituencies."

Jallow added that it was clear that a vast number of African countries, who are part of the SUN Movement, urgently require support in terms of coming to grips with thedata or lack there of and information gaps around nutrition.

"The lack of resources is of course a reality which we cannot ignore, but in order toeffectively use the limited resources we have, it is important that strategic information is delivered to policy-makers in a timely manner," Jallow stressed. She elaborated that African Heads of State and Governments had already articulated the political commitment to tackling agricultural development, food insecurity and nutrition through various continental frameworks and declarations, pointing to agreed upon targets set out in theMalabo Declaration and the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme.

Scaling Up Nutrition is a global Movement founded on the principle that all people have a right to food and good nutrition. So far 54 countries have committed to putting the right policies in place, collaborating with partners to implement programmes with shared nutrition goals, and mobilising resources to effectively scale up nutrition, with a core focus on empowering women.

Source: NEPAD