(AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK) - The African Development Bank is organizing regional dissemination events to share its newly adopted Multi-Sectoral Nutrition Action Plan (2018-2025) and secure stakeholders buy-in for effective implementation.

The first in the series of the dissemination events takes place on Tuesday, 4 December 2018 from 8.30-13.00, and will provide a platform to chart the way forward for improving multi-sectoral nutrition policy and programming.

The Bank has adopted the Multi-Sectoral Nutrition Action Plan to guide and coordinate the implementation of the nutrition dimension encapsulated in its strategy documents, particularly the Feed Africa Strategy and the Human Capital Strategy.

Africa alone loses US$25 billion per year to costs attributed to child morbidity and mortality, impaired cognitive and physical and economic development caused by malnutrition. Yet these losses are almost entirely preventable.

Through the implementation of this Action Plan, the Bank will catalyze nutrition-smart investments in different sectors to support a 40% stunting reduction across the continent by 2025, with a focus on investing in the promotion of safe, diverse and nutritious foods.

The regional dissemination events will highlight the objectives of the Action Plan, and the role of partnerships. The events will also increase awareness on the African Leaders for Nutrition initiative, and provide a platform to discuss the way forward for all stakeholders. A number of dissemination events for the nutrition action plan are planned in December 2018 and April 2019, in Abidjan, Pretoria, Nairobi, Tunis and Nigeria.

The Plan will contribute towards building a continent-wide ‘grey Matter Infrastructure’ through its contribution to 40% reduction in stunting on the continent by 2025, and will prioritize vulnerable population groups, including pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, women of reproductive age and infants and young children, with particular focus on the first 1,000 days of life.