West African leaders call for focus on nutrition

Nutrition must be an integral component of agricultural and development programmes in order to tackle child malnutrition, experts have warned. Health, nutrition and agriculture experts from 15 West African countries met at a nutrition forum of the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) last week.

The head of the nutrition unit in Guinea's health ministry, Mamady Daffe, told IRIN News that malnutrition must be integrated into development instead of being tackled by emergency response projects. Daffe also said that maximising food production is not enough if there is no focus on the nutritive quality of agricultural output.

Meanwhile, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) said on Tuesday that it had received a 27 million US dollar grant from the European Union to work with Ecowas to increase food security in West Africa.


 
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