{{Child under nutrition caused by hunger is causing an estimated loss of between 1.9% and 16.5% of gross domestic products (GDP) among African countries as costs to health and productivity per year, a new study shows.}}
The study titled “Cost of Hunger in Africa” which in its first phase gives statistics from Egypt, Uganda, Ethiopia and Swaziland says that between 40 and 67% of the working age population in the four countries were stunted as children resulting to low productivity.
The experts say that the stunted children are vulnerable to health problems, repeating grades or drop from schools due to underperformance and therefore increase costs for taking care of them.
They say the cases of stunting in Africa today is more than it was some 20 years back and therefore call for specific countries to take appropriate measures to tame the vice and ensure inclusive development in the continent.
The report was launched on March 28that the seventh Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development to unveil the impact of child under-nutrition on the African economies.
“We need to work with the private sector as well as smallholder farmers in addressing,” said Manoj Juneja, assistant executive director resource management and chief financial officer, World Food Programme.
Uganda spends around $254 million per year treating cases of diarrhoea, anaemia and respiratory infections linked to malnutrition.
The early deaths among children each year of causes related to hunger reduce Uganda’s labour force by some 3.8%.
That amounts to some 934 million working hours lost every year due to an absent workforce.
Ethiopia lost an estimated $4.7 billion in 2009 because of child undernutrition. This is equivalent to 16.5% of the country’s GDP which is often used as an indicator of how an economy is performing.
In Egypt, the study concluded that 40% of adults were stunted as children. This represents more than 20 million people of working age who are not able to achieve their potential, as a consequence of child undernutrition.
Child undernutrition costs Swaziland around $92 million per year in lost worker productivity.
NMG
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