Osinbajo, who was represented by the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, said this on Thursday in Abuja, at the 17th ECOWAS Nutrition forum, with the theme: “Leveraging Sustainable Financing for Multisectoral Approaches: Accelerate Universal Access to Nutritious, Safe, Affordable and Sustainable Diets”.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the ECOWAS Nutrition Forum is a regional platform that brings together the major stakeholders in nutrition to review policies, practices and progress in the reduction of malnutrition and diet-related diseases in the sub-region.

Assembling and sharing relevant knowledge on access to nutritious, safe, affordable, and sustainable diets, including essential services in the Post COVID-19 era across the ECOWAS region, will speed up progress for nutrition impact.

The Vice President said that the huge expenditures on nutrition require a strategic commitment to prioritise actions that can effectively reduce malnutrition in any country.

He said that the West African region is affected by multiple forms of malnutrition across various population groups.

The VP said that it was crucial to understand how these forms coexist, what drives them, and how they can be addressed through multisectoral efforts.

Osinbajo said that the objective of the 17th ECOWAS Nutrition Forum aligned with the West African Health Organisation’s nutrition agenda to strengthen multisectoral collaborations aimed at improving nutrition financing and Universal Health Coverage (UHC).

Dr Omar Alieu Touray, President, ECOWAS Commission, said that public financing can improve food security.

Touray said that the 2022 Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) report indicated that hunger has increased across the globe and over 200 million people affected hunger live in Africa.

He said that food insecurity in the region has been exacerbated by insecurity, economic hardship and climate change.

Dr Shawn Baker, Chief Programme Officer, Helenium Keller International, said that food prices were on the rise, and every 5 per cent increase, equals 9 per cent wasting.

Baker said that the impact would be more significant where there is already a high level of malnutrition.

He said that the region cannot allow the situation to worsen, noting that the persistence of malnutrition is a political choice.

He, however, said that the region has the technical means and political leadership to end malnutrition.

Meanwhile, Dr Aboubacry Tall, Deputy-Rep, UNICEF Nigeria, said that UNICEF, on behalf of developers’ partners, commits to ensuring that the nutritional rights and needs of children were met.

Tall said that they all stand ready to support governments in upholding the right to nutrition in the region.

He said that the burden of child food poverty, nutrition insecurity and malnutrition in West Africa remains high.

“As we are convening today, we acknowledge that Nigeria has the highest number of malnourished children in Africa and consequently in the region.

“Changes in the nutrition status of children in Nigeria means that we will change the narrative for the region and ultimately for the world.

“We know this can be done – exclusive breastfeeding rates have increased in Nigeria,” he said.

NAN reports the ECOWAS Nutrition Forum is a regional platform that brings together key nutrition stakeholders biennially, to discuss nutrition policies and practices, progress in reducing malnutrition and diet-related diseases and innovative practices in the region.

About 250 nutrition experts from across the region are participating in the meeting.

The main objective of the meeting is to strengthen multi-sectoral collaboration to improve financing and Universal Health Coverage (UHC) for nutrition.

According to the organisers, the forum will be an opportunity to examine innovative multisectoral collaboration practices that work best in terms of the synergy of action and sustainable financing of nutrition interventions.