24 TH -25 TH NOVEMBER 2015 GICC HOTEL

Transcription

1 ADDRESS BY UNICEF REPRESENTATIVE MS VIDHYA GANESH NUTRITION CONFERENCE 24 TH -25 TH NOVEMBER 2015 GICC HOTEL 1

2 Director of Ceremony His Honor the Vice President, Mokgweetsi Masisi Minister of Health, Hon, Dorcas Makgatho Minister of Agriculture, Hon. Patrick Ralotsia Senior government officials present Distinguished guests, Colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, good morning and thank you for joining us today. I am privileged to join His Honor the Vice President, Mokgweetsi Masisi, at this auspicious gathering that has been convened to discuss an issue that is pivotal to the development of this country, Nutrition. Director of Ceremony, I would have erred if I fail to acknowledge and celebrate the progress that has been made in efforts to reduce stunting and other forms of malnutrition globally, and within our region. At global level, stunting prevalence has reduced from over 40% in 1990 to 25% in 2013, during this same period, in Eastern and Southern Africa Region, stunting reduced from 51% to 38%. It is therefore befitting to begin my address by extending heartfelt congratulation to Botswana for her recent effort in strengthening nutrition. As most of you are probably aware, the country recently stepped up the commitment to combat malnutrition and improve nutritional status of its people by becoming the 55 th member of the global Scaling up Nutrition movement this year. Director of Ceremony, nutrition remains one of the fundamental components that countries use to strengthen human development in totality. It is therefore 2

3 heartening to see a diverse group of experts convening to discuss ways of ensuring that nutrition remains at the core of the Botswana s national development agenda. This Conference, themed, Nutrition Partnerships and Investments: An Imperative towards Sustainable Development, could not have come at a more opportune time. With the current global momentum to improve nutrition, Botswana cannot afford to be left behind. The conference gives us an opportunity to reflect on how to best utilize our membership to the SUN Movement, on how best to make the nutrition target of the Sustainable Development Goals a reality, especially as we move into a new National Development Plan and a new VISION You will agree with me that this meeting is timely, as it comes a few months after Botswana adopted the Sustainable Development Goals and for the first time, there is a specific target to end all forms of malnutrition. This signifies the global community s recognition of Nutrition s centrality to sustainable human development. The conference also come after the Global Nutrition Report was launched, with a theme Actions and Accountability to advance nutrition and sustainable development. The report shows that of the 114 countries assessed for progress towards meeting World Health Assembly stunting reduction targets by 2025, 39 are on course, 60 are off-course but with some progress, and only 15 are off course with no progress. Unfortunately, Botswana is one of the 15 countries off course and with no progress, and it is the only SADC country in this category. In fact, Botswana is assessed as off course and without progress for all the WHA Nutrition targets. 3

4 Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, over the years, studies have proven beyond doubt that the nutritional well-being of all people is a pre-condition for the development of individuals and societies at large. At the same time, the nutritional well-being of a population is a reflection of the performance of its social and economic sectors and to a large extent, an indicator of the efficiency of national resource allocation. On the flip side, the deficiencies in essential nutrients often lead to malnutrition and can affect an individual's mental and physical state, resulting in poor health and poor work performance. In addition, a hungry, malnourished child may have mild to serious learning disabilities, resulting in poor school performance. Therefore, malnutrition may undermine investments in education, health and other development sectors. Investing in nutrition does not only have economic return, it is a human rights issue. The 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights established adequate health, including adequate food, as a basic human right. The right to health and nutrition was reiterated in the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted by all but two United Nations (UN) member countries. Governments are entrusted to ensure that these rights are fulfilled, especially among children, the elderly, the vulnerable, and the infirm. Distinguished guests, while significant progress has been made in ensuring proper nutrition for children, challenges remain throughout the world. For Eastern and Southern Africa, stunting, also referred to as chronic malnutrition (low height for age), is of a particular concern with more than 25 million, or 40 percent of children under five years of age suffering from it. Globally, 161 4

5 million children under the age of five are stunted, of these children are in Botswana hence the need for this kind of a discourse around nutrition. Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, a lot is yet to be done to protect the lives of our people, particularly children, from the devastating effects of malnutrition. Globally, nearly half of all child deaths are attributable to undernutrition (about 45%) but for the children who survive the early years of life, the long-term consequences of malnutrition are permanent and profound: a. They are not able to learn well in school b. They grow up to become less productive economically, as adults c. These effects cost government significant losses in GDP The cost of health care for diseases associated with obesity are also very high, and many middle income countries, Botswana included, are facing the double burden of under-nutrition, and obesity. The causes of poor nutrition are complex and multi-faceted, which is why we are all gathered here today, from different sectors and specialty areas, to chart the way forward on how best to invest, together, in effective policies and programmes that will be fully implemented and lead to measurable improvements in nutritional outcomes of our people The United Nations in Botswana is committed to partner with government, Civil Society, Private Sector and all other players to help move this agenda forward. UNICEF in particular is committed to continue to provide support towards improving nutrition for children through strong partnerships, concerted advocacy for equitable policies and programmes, and through evidence generation to inform decision making. There is a growing recognition of the critical role that evidence generation can play in improving the nutritional 5

6 outcomes of women and children therefore a nutrition "data revolution" to improve global and country efforts to track progress, improve decision-making, and ensure accountability is imperative. I urge all of us gathered here today, to make commitments to moving the nutrition agenda forward beyond this conference, through stronger partnerships, recognizing and galvanizing community engagement, committing adequate resources to evidence generation. In the process we should ensure that no child is left behind by leveraging resources and expertise across sectors to help our children reach their potential, keep our adults alive and healthy and to lift our people out of poverty. I look forward to interactive and productive deliberations on how we are going to fast track efforts to achieve this critical goal and I hope that by the end of these three day we will all have realized that good nutrition is not just an outcome of development, but also a driver of economic growth and human development. Ensuring adequate nutrition for all will make vital contributions to achieving the SDGs and set countries on a strong social and economic growth trajectory. And in order to achieve all these we need to generate evidence more evidence to drive out intervention and ensure that we reach the most deprived children and strengthen partnership to drive the nutrition agenda. I thank you for listening! 6