4 Key Messages from African Union Summit Nutrition Side Event

On February 16, 2024, the African Union Development Agency in partnership with Results for Development and key partners hosted a high-level African Union side event on nutrition financing.

The event convened African regional and country leaders, nutrition experts, donors and government officials from around the world for a discussion on how to mobilize more funding for nutrition, how to maximize nutrition gains, and how to better engage the private sector.

Four key messages emerged, which are captured in the following 3-minute highlights video.

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To learn more about the event, read the post-event communique or watch the full event video.

Many African countries have made progress towards reducing undernutrition, notably under-5 stunting, and adolescent and adult underweight. However, progress to address malnutrition across the region remains uneven. Only six countries are on course to meet the global target for stunting among children under five, and obesity is on the rise across the continent as countries are faced with the double burden of malnutrition.

Accelerated progress for nutrition financing is required across all sectors including the private sector to achieve the global nutrition goals and SDGs.

African leaders have expressed a clear commitment in accelerating nutrition improvement and are calling for a Nutrition Financing Transformation Agenda for Africa that includes country-driven actions that address challenges to sustainable nutrition financing, and a clear, measurable pathway to:

  1. Strengthen governance and accountability for nutrition
  2. Enhance country-led resource mobilization for nutrition
  3. Capitalize sustainability of funding for nutrition and unlock public-private sector funding
  4. Strengthen annual planning and budget management processes to elevate nutrition

If you would like to engage in the development of the Nutrition Financing Transformation Agenda for Africa, please sign up for more information through the R4D-led SUN Financing Capacity Development Platform.

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