Flood'll worsen food insecurity, inflation in Nigeria, IMF warns

THE International Monetary Fund has warned that the recent incidents of flooding in some states in Nigeria will worsen food insecurity and lead to further increase in food prices across the country.

Mai Farid, African Department, IMF gave this warning during the analytical corner on “Climate Change and Food Insecurity in Sub-Saharan Africa.”

Highlighting the possible economic  impact of floods in Benue, Kogi and Anambra states of Nigeria, Farid said: "We are very cognizant of the challenge that the flood of that magnitude and how it affected Nigeria in neighbouring countries. We also recognise Chad and Cameroon have also been hit. And absolutely, you're totally right in terms of the supply of agricultural production, it is going to drop which will put even further pressure on prices. And in addition,  the floods have affected some of the transportation networks which makes it even harder for food to transfer into the country or even out.''

Farid noted  that Nigeria and other countries in the sub Saharan Africa are the most food insecure region and also the region most vulnerable to climate change and yet the least prepared to pay, adding that there is need for governments to invest in  early warning system technology and and infrastructure that is climate resilient.

Also speaking, John Spray of the Asia and Pacific Department of the IMF stressed the need to provide social assistance to moderate the impact of floods and food insecurity on the people.

He  said, “One thing our model tells us is that there can be permanent effects and short term shocks. And so getting people to food and cash early, getting that social assistance out to people can have a really big impact in the long run. So there’s a kind of urgency where we think it’s important that when there is a shock that people can get access to food. They don’t have to take more drastic measures, pulling children out of school or sacrificing other assets.”

Tropical parasite diseases cost Africa $2.4trn annually — PPSN

The Parasitology and Public Health Society of Nigeria, PPSN, has lamented the increasing tropical parasitic diseases which it said costs the African continent $2.4 trillion annually.

Vice-Chancellor, Delta State University, DELSU, Abraka, Prof. Andy Egwunyenga, raised the concern in a keynote address at the 46th Annual conference of PPSN at Abraka, Ethiope East East Local Government Area, Delta State, urging African leaders to rise up to the challenge of nipping the crippling and killing parasites in the bud.

Egwunyenga, who delivered the address titled "POLITICAL WILL TOWARDS DISEASE CONTROL-THE AFRICAN EXPERIENCE", noted that the consequences of parasitic infections were devastating in terms of human sicknesses and deaths, as well as agriculture and animal grazing.

He stressed that tropical parasites shorten lives, reduce the ability to work or attend school and impose a lifelong burden on Africa’s potential for development.

Bemoaning the burden of the tropical diseases in Africa, he stated that diseases cause mass poverty, high fertility rate, slow economic growth, deforestation, rapid urbanization and increased migration, wars and natural disasters across the continent.

He said diseases cost the African Region $2.4 trillion a year, disclosing that nearly 639 million years of healthy life were lost in 2015. 

According to him, an epidemiological transition in the last 20 years has seen the rise of non-communicable disease as the leading cause of death in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa. 

He said: "The health challenge has been well recognised by African governments resulting in the Abuja Declaration in 2001 and other follow-ups but responses have been mixed with most countries unable to meet the funding target of 15 percent, including Nigeria, with average budget of about 4.7 percent since the past 20 years while the highest is Swaziland with 17 percent."

Egwunyenga, however, held that Nigeria government, compared to other African countries, has failed woefully, in ensuring that 15 percent of its annual budgetary allocation goes towards health.

In his address, President of PPSN, Prof. Sammy Sam-Wobo, noted that this year's conference theme "Political Will Towards Disease Control - The African Experience", was well chosen considering the present realities in most African countries where parasitic diseases especially Neglected Tropical Diseases, NTDs, still hold sway and the Government doing nothing to salvage the situation.

He summarized key achievements of PPSN to include building the capacity and development of a critical mass of doctoral level scholarships for the continent, practical engagement in intellectual discourse, knowledge production, policy definition and intervention against diseases and their agents.

Culled from Vanguard