Accra, Ghana, October 17, 2019//-The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has revealed that Ghana’s gross domestic product (GDP) suffers $2.6 billion annually due to malnutrition and hunger.
This means that the country loses $2.6 billion of its goods and services produce every year to malnutrition and hunger.
The Deputy Regional Representative of FAO Africa, Ms Jocelyn Brown Hall disclosed this at a seed to salad programme held in Accra at the Independence Arch of Ghana as part of activities to mark this year’s World Food Day.
She added that the only way Ghana could realize its dreams is when its eradicate malnutrition and hunger among its population.
The Assistant ant Director-General and Regional Representative for Africa FAO, Abebe Haile- Gabbriel, also disclosed that one out of every four Africans suffers from malnutrition.
According to him, the problem we face in Africa is not only under-nutriment but the affordability of healthy diet.
Access to healthy foods and nutritious foods is a very big issue as foodborne hazards cause a major number of deaths and numerous illnesses across the African continent, Haile- Gabbriel, explained.
This he said, with children under five years of age and other vulnerable sections of the population bearing most of the burden.
“We need to recognize that the heart of the development agenda ticks from the elimination of hunger and all forms of malnutrition.
There are no chances of achieving the common vision of a safe, fair, peaceful and prosperous world when perennial hunger and not having access to nutritious and healthy foods mire millions of people in a punishing cycle,” Haile- Gabbriel stressed.
According to the 2019 report on the state of Food Security and Nutrition published by the FAO, hunger has been on the rise in almost all sub-regions of Africa.
The report also further revealed that undernourished people have been increasing steadily in Africa over the last few years where it reached 256.1 million people in 2018; with a staggering 93 percent (237million) living in sub-Saharan Africa.
African Eye Report
