WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2010-04-12 Time: 08:00:01 Posted By: News Poster
By Denver Kisting
ENOUGH analyses have been done regarding the problem of malnutrition and the time for thorough action plans has come.
This was the consensus of about 180 delegates who attended an African regional forum on malnutrition in Johannesburg last week.
The forum was initiated by GAIN – the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition – and was aimed at sharing innovative approaches to fight poor nutrition.
During his opening address at the forum, Jay Naidoo, GAIN board and Development Bank of Southern Africa chairman, set the tone for the conference: “Today, we want to focus on solutions. Enough time has been spent on analysing the problem. A quarter of African children are malnourished. What do we do to act NOW?
“Ten children die every minute as a result of under-nutrition… and that is an indictment on all of us.”
Naidoo, a former minister in former South African President Nelson Mandela’s cabinet, called for “a deep sense of solidarity” from all stakeholders to fight what he called a “fight against social injustice that today traps a third of humanity”.
According to him, “we are at a unique point in our history as this is the first time in 20 years that malnutrition is on the global agenda”.
The problem can only be addressed effectively if leaders adopt an approach of humility and a deep commitment to serve, Naidoo said under applause.
On her part, Graça Machel, Mandela’s wife and a renowned international activist for women and children’s rights, said that the seemingly insurmountable problems which the world faces today are brought about by a lack of vision and sustainable commitment – not only on the part of leaders but “of society and nations at large”.
Children – the worst affect group – “need to have a full and complete possibility to develop their full potential”, Machel said.
Echoing Naidoo’s sentiments, she said: “We have a monumental task ahead of us. We were already told that malnutrition is a silent killer.”
And, she added, charity should start at home. “Africans need to produce food for ourselves. This country (South Africa) has no reason to import food. You can’t have dignity if you are unable to feed your own people.”
During a one-on-one interview with The Namibian at the prestigious Hilton Hotel in Sandton where the conference was held, Naidoo said that the two-day conference was aimed at bringing “together Africans, showing their experience about what worked in their [respective] countries and what lessons were learned”. Moreover, he said, international experts were also invited to establish “what help do we need to scale this up.”
GAIN has already implemented food programmes in 25 countries, reaching close to 200 million people. Supplying food, however, is “not good enough”, Naidoo emphasised. Access to quality food still needs to be urgently dealt with. Similarly, “it is not good enough that we are providing people with ARVs. Nutrition is an essential component of ARV treatment.”
Naidoo is of the opinion that although there is light at the end of the malnutrition tunnel, all efforts are dealt a serious blow by high levels of poverty and unemployment. Apart from this, a lack of political will is another hurdle that needs to be overcome, he said. “Nutrition is essential for [the] success of a country. The challenge that we face in Africa is access to clean, drinkable water. And we must also make sure that our public health system works.”
Rob Davies, South Africa’s minister of trade and industry said that food fortification is an intervention that has proven to work, but that it is important to “harmonise food fortification regulations in SADC” to strengthen existing efforts and to avoid duplication. He conceded that unemployment and the accompanying poverty adds fuel to the malnutrition fire. According to him, the neighbouring country lost almost a million jobs as a result of the recent global economic crisis.
In its annual report for 2008-2009, GAIN said these dire straits have “aggravated an already severe situation of world hunger and poverty. Children and the world’s poor – unwilling participants in the speculative and volatile global commodity markets – are adversely affected by the knock on effects of constrained economies.”
Asked whether the means satisfy the ends by organising such a huge conference at such a luxurious conference, Marc von Ameringen, GAIN Executive Director, said: “We have enough evidence to start sharing. This issue is so poorly understood. We need to get this message out and build momentum.”
Namibia’s Prime Minister, Nahas Angula, who is understood to be viewing the problem in a serious light, was scheduled to deliver the keynote address at this high profile forum. However, he cancelled due to an alleged double booking in his diary.
Original Source: 
Original date published: 9 April 2010
Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/201004120252.html?viewall=1