Africa-Press – Angola. The African Union (AU) Commissioner, Josefa Correia Sacko, highlighted, this Monday, the need for the African continent to act urgently to respond to the food and nutrition insecurity crisis, to avoid the suffering of more than 278 billion people.
The diplomat, who spoke at the high-level conference on Food and Nutrition Security, said that rapid and decisive actions are needed to improve the situation in addressing the main systemic challenges of this phenomenon, taking advantage of the theme of the year of the African Union 2022 on building resilience in nutrition and food security.
Josefa Sacko said that Africa faces one of the most alarming food crises that began before the war in Ukraine, “due to the increasing frequency and severity of climate shocks and regional conflicts that have disrupted food production and distribution.”
The diplomat underlined that the Covid-19 pandemic has caused an increase in food insecurity and poverty on the continent, “and the measures adopted to combat this pandemic, and the economic consequences, have profoundly affected all African countries”.
“In this particular”, he continued, the horn of Africa is the most affected, including the Sahel region which faces the worst food crisis in 10 years, with more than 27 million people going hungry”.
“We can expect not only famine, but also social unrest in many parts of Africa if we don’t act now,” the commissioner maintained, adding that “a catastrophe is unfolding in the Sahel region, which has suffered four consecutive episodes of severe drought.” .
The World Meteorological Organization predicts a fifth consecutive failed rainy season because of drier-than-average conditions expected for October to December this year, further aggravating the crisis in several regions of Africa.
Lack of policies for children’s mental health
Only 29 percent of countries in Africa, where more than half of the population is under the age of 24, have mental health policies for children and adolescents, the United Nations warned in a report yesterday.
According to the UN document, cited by EFE, Africa has less than one professional in the field of Child Mental Health, and less than two specialists in Adult Mental Health per 100,000 inhabitants, despite the registration of almost 37 million adolescents. with mental disorders on the continent.
“The UN has also recorded an increase in alcohol consumption among young Africans, something that may be linked to mental health problems, which more than 80 percent of consumers are between the ages of 15 and 19.
The document notes that about 11 people out of every 100,000 die annually by suicide in Africa, above the global average of nine per 100,000 people. In this regard, the report adds that the continent is home to six of the ten countries with the highest suicide rates in the world.
“The situation is attributed, in part, to insufficient action in addressing and preventing risk factors, including mental health conditions that currently affect 116 million people, up from 53 million in 1990.
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