As part of human rights development goals, the Aliko Dangote Foundation announced its plans to invest a sum of US$100 million over a period of five years to the cause of mitigating malnutrition in Nigeria.
This promise has been described as a high point of the recent Global Nutrition Summit which was held in Milan, Italy.
It reportedly featured governments, international agencies, foundations, civil society organizations and businesses to accelerate the global response to malnutrition believed to be the underlying cause of nearly half of all global child deaths.
In a statement released by Aliko Dangote Foundation’s Managing Director and CEO, Zouera Youssoufou, he said that this was done so as to improve the living conditions of Nigerians.
New Potato Variety to Tackle Malnutrition, Reduce Diabetes – IITA
Nigeria’s high malnutrition rate is undermining progress towards improving child health and survival and putting the brakes on economic development.
It was said that of the one million children below five years who die annually in Nigeria, half of those deaths can be attributed to hunger in one way or the other.
Diseases like malaria and pneumonia are more likely to lead to fatality in children who have not gained enough nutrition within the first 1000 years of their existence.
By making this unprecedented US$100 Million commitment, the Aliko Dangote Foundation is on a mission to reduce the prevalence of undernutrition by 60 per cent in the neediest areas of Nigeria, specifically the North East and North West, where malnutrition has affected millions of lives and crippled the local economy.
