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STORY: WEST AFRICA / MALNUTRITION
TRT: 2.43
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: FRENCH / ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 21 JULY 2011, DAKAR, SENEGAL / FILE
21 JULY 2011, DAKAR, SENEGAL
1. Wide shot, workshop
2. Close up, Monteiro
3. Close up, Monteiro writing
FILE – RECENT, BURKINO FASO
4. Wide shot, clinic
5. Med shot, mother with baby
6. Wide shot, mother with doctor
7. Med shot, mother with baby
21 JULY 2011, DAKAR, SENEGAL
8. SOUNDBITE (French) Antonio Monteiro, Nutrition Advocate in West Africa:
“Malnutrition is a disease that wipes out our continent, which reaches especially our sub-region and this must be fought with force and determination. It is for this reason that I said yes. And I am available to participate in this effort to fight against malnutrition in West Africa.”
FILE – RECENT, BURKINA FASO
9. Wide shot, mother getting into van with doctor
10. Med shot, doctor with mother in van
11. Med shot, mother walks with baby
12. Wide shot, doctor examines baby
13. Med shot, doctor at desk
14. Close up, malnourished baby being treated
15. Close up, malnourished baby being treated
16. Wide shot, mother sitting on floor with baby
21 JULY 2011, DAKAR, SENEGAL
17. SOUNDBITE (English) Shawn Baker, Vice-President and Regional Director for Africa for Helen Keller International:
“I think we are really poised now to get the level of political commitment from heads of state to go a number of promising experiences to a really massive scale up of these key nutrition programmes and to that is what is so exciting about having a nutrition advocate of the stature of President Monteiro to really be able to dialogue at the highest political levels."
FILE – RECENT, CHAD
18. Wide shot, Clinic
19. Med shot, mother getting baby weighed
20. Close up, baby in weighing bucket
21. Med shot, woman picking twigs Chad
22. Wide shot, woman picking twigs
23. Wide shot, woman with children
24. Close up, girl
25. Wide shot, woman with baby
21 JULY 2011, DAKAR, SENEGAL
26. SOUNDBITE (English) Felicite Tchibindat, Regional Nutrition Adviser UNICEF:
“If a child is malnourished in the early childhood, they can have irreversible consequences later on. We have the consequences in terms of education we know they lose two of three years of schooling and sometimes they don't make it that is one the second is about the economic growth. We know that a country can lose 2 to 3 percent of GDP.”
27. Close up, Monteiro in meeting room
28. Wide shot, regional group members
In West Africa, around 600,000 children under the age of five die from causes related to malnutrition every year.
Over the last few years regional leaders have made great strides in trying to combat malnutrition. The former president of Cape Verde, Antonio Monteiros, recently got down to business as he took on a new role as Nutrition Advocate in West Africa.
SOUNDBITE (French) Antonio Monteiro, Nutrition Advocate in West Africa:
“Malnutrition is a disease that wipes out our continent, which reaches especially our sub-region and this must be fought with force and determination. It is for this reason that I said yes. And I am available to participate in this effort to fight against malnutrition in West Africa.”
Some countries in the region have recorded two to three fold increases in the percentage of women exclusively breast feeding their children under 6 months of age. And some 180 million people today consume fortified foods.
But more still needs to be done from the highest levels of government to push through the message that nutrition is key to a country’s overall development.
SOUNDBITE (English) Shawn Baker, Vice-President and Regional Director for Africa for Helen Keller International:
“I think we are really poised now to get the level of political commitment from heads of state to go a number of promising experiences to a really massive scale up of these key nutrition programmes and to that is what is so exciting about having a nutrition advocate of the stature of President Monteiro to really be able to dialogue at the highest political levels."
Among the 15 countries in the world with the worst under five mortality statistics, seven are in West Africa where one out of four children is underweight. In areas like the Sahel, the situation is aggravated by cycles of acute deprivation due to drought and crop failure. Malnutrition can not only have severe consequences for the well being of people, in particular the most vulnerable like women and children, but can also impact the broader economy of a country.
SOUNDBITE (English) Felicite Tchibindat, Regional Nutrition Adviser UNICEF:
“If a child is malnourished in the early childhood, they can have irreversible consequences later on. We have the consequences in terms of education we know they lose two of three years of schooling and sometimes they don't make it that is one the second is about the economic growth. We know that a country can lose 2 to 3 percent of GDP.”
The hope is that Monteiro, who is supported by a regional group of UN agencies, non-governmental organisations and donors, will be able to encourage the leaders in West African countries to take charge of the gains they’ve already made and put nutrition much higher up on their development agenda to ensure the health of their people.
