AfDB to launch African leaders initiative for nutrition

The African Development Bank (AfDB), together with the African Union Commission (AUC), the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and other partners will launch the African Leaders for Nutrition (ALN) initiative on Monday, January 29, 2018 in Addis Ababa.

According to the statement from the bank, the breakfast event will take place on the margins of the 30th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union.

The AfDB president, Akinwumi Adesina and his predecessor, John Kufuor of Ghana founded The African Leaders for Nutrition Initiative in 2015 (ALN).

The ceremony will gather Heads of State, representatives from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Big Win Philanthropists, the Dangote Foundation and other development partners.

Under the theme, Addressing the cost of hunger in Africa: A call for bold leadership, the ALN champions will discuss with Heads of State, philanthropists, development partners, private sector and other key stakeholders the role of good nutrition, accelerated investment and political leadership in addressing hunger and malnutrition challenges in Africa.

They will advocate renewed commitments on nutrition that have the potential to deliver a wide range of economic, health and social returns.

The delegates will endorse a joint declaration, leading to the official formalisation of the ALN Initiative and establishment of the political leaders' platform to overcome malnutrition and contribute to Africa's vision of a continent free from hunger and malnutrition.

The ALN Initiative is a platform for political engagement with the goal of increasing the visibility of nutrition in Africa and strengthening political will to address the complex root causes and encouraging specific policy and financial commitments to ending the burden of malnutrition.

The ALN Initiative believes that reducing the cost of malnutrition and investing in grey matter infrastructure will greatly increase Africa's socio-economic development. Through evidence-based knowledge generation, ALN will contribute to the development of an investment case for nutrition.

The ALN secretariat is based at the AfDB headquarters and co-ordinates all activities of the ALN Initiative.