The Aliko Dangote foundation and Bill & Melinda Gates foundation announced a combined commitment of $100 million, (about N30 billion) over the next five years (2016-2020) towards ending undernutrition in Nigeria.
This commitment is expected to improve the lives of at least five million families by 2020.
The new commitment was announced today by Aliko Dangote and Bill Gates at a joint press conference in Abuja, Nigeria.
This is against the background of the fact that despite rapid economic growth, Nigeria is home to the highest number of stunted children in Africa and the second highest globally.
It has been confirmed that almost one in five Nigerian children is acutely malnourished and more than one in three children suffer from stunting. With its vital role in child health, growth and cognitive development, better nutrition will be essential to unleashing the potential of Nigeria’s next generation.
According to Bill Gates: “nutrition is one of the highest impact investments we can make in Nigeria’s future growth and prosperity. We know that well-nourished children are more likely to grow up to be healthy, fend off preventable diseases, achieve more in school and even earn higher income as adults.
“This partnership builds on our foundation’s strong commitment to Nigeria – one of several countries where we are working closely with the government, the private sector and civil society to improve health and development outcomes.”
In a joint statement, the two foundations said they will begin a joint planning process to determine the details of the partnership.
The Programs will include community-based approaches and proven interventions linked to behaviour change, fortification of staple foods with essential micronutrients, the community management of acute malnutrition and investments in the local production of nutritious foods.
A key objective will be improving the livelihoods of households by supporting nutrition-sensitive agricultural programs that can increase family income, improve diets and empower women and youth.
The two foundations also welcomed the increased political attention to undernutrition in Nigeria and noted that leadership will be critical to future progress.
Aliko Dangote said: “in the spirit of our new partnership, we encourage even more deliberate and significant commitments from the Government of Nigeria at all levels to step up investments in nutrition. It is time to make strategic investments in interventions to eliminate malnutrition in Nigeria. This will be achieved through a massive scale-up of interventions, matched with effective coordination of efforts and innovative sustainable solutions. We have to ensure that children who are already malnourished receive help and are prevented from dying while we improve the conditions that led to them being malnourished in the first place.” [myad]
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