In this article, we present a summary of a letter to the editor of Nature Food from Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank.
 
The correspondence article focused on the nutrition problems in Africa. Across the African continent, about 250 million people go to bed hungry. According to a 2019 study by the African Union, 56 million children under the age of five are chronically undernourished and 13 million are at risk of hunger. Unfortunately, many African countries have failed to make the necessary investments to provide sustainable, healthy food for their people.
 
The article mentions several initiatives being undertaken by the African Union to address Africa's food security and nutrition challenges, including declaration of 2022 as the Year of Nutrition, and promoting the activities of the African Leaders for Nutrition, a platform founded in 2018 in partnership with fellow nutrition advocates, including several former and current heads of state. 
 
In particular, the African Leaders for Nutrition proposes three measures for the Year of Nutrition. First is to ensure investment in a comprehensive nutrition action plan. Second is to identify cost-effective interventions that can be delivered quickly and easily. And the third is to encourage African leaders to be accountable in addressing hunger in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Global Nutrition Target. It has been also proposed to implement these measures through the Continental Nutrition Accountability Scorecard.
 
The article also emphasized that there is no reason why the African people should suffer from malnutrition because Africa is home to 65% of the world's remaining uncultivated arable land and is rich in natural resources. Therefore, the African Union Year of Nutrition will build on the momentum demonstrated on the  2021 United Nations Food Systems Summit, to solidify its commitments to enable everyone to be able to access sustainable, healthy diets, and to end hunger. 

Reference
Adesina, A.A. It’s time to nourish Africa once and for all. Nat Food 3, 182 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-022-00480-4

Contributor: SHIRATORI Sakiko (Information and Public Relations Office)