The research, comprised of two papers published in the science journal Nature, is the first of its kind to identify local hotspots for poor child nutrition and low education levels across 51 African countries. By using maps of local health and education data, in 5x5 sq km across the whole continent, researchers identified variations at state and county level missed from previous comparisons.
Simon Hay, senior author of the papers and director of geospatial science at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, said the UN global goal of ending childhood malnutrition was always quoted as an “aspirational” target.
“All we are trying to say is that this aspiration is very, very far away,” Hay said. “Particularly at a time when people are questioning, at least in the US, at the top levels of government, the value of international aid and what it brings.”
The study found that many countries, including Ghana and southern Nigeria, had shown improvement in childhood stunting and wasting since 2000, but indicated that malnutrition indicators remained “persistently high” in 14 countries, stretching the length of the African Sahel from Senegal in the west to Eritrea in the east.
“Most of the previous assessments were made at best at a state level and many at a country level,” said Hay. “That masks a lot of variations in a country.”
For instance, in Nigeria the national average for basic schooling in 2015 was seven years. Yet the study found wide gaps between northern and southern communities, ranging from two years in the former to 10 years in the latter.
Source: theguardian
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