As a result of child under nutrition 55.9 Billion Birr was lost in Ethiopia in 2009
The initial result, that was released during the consultative workshop on 1st February, 2013 also indicated that underweight in children increased the mortality rates in the country, causing 433,492 deaths in the last five years.
“Two out of every three adults in Ethiopia is stunted. This represented more than 26 million people of working age that are not able to achieve their potential, as a consequence of child under nutrition. In rural Ethiopia, where most people are engaged in manual activities, it is estimated that in 2009 alone, 12.8 billion ETB or 1.1 billion USD are not produced due to lower physical capacity of this group” the study result which receives the data collection and processing support from the Ethiopian Health and Nutrition Research Institute indicated.
During the workshop, the National Implementation Team identified key stakeholders that should be specifically informed of the Cost of Hunger in Africa results in order to enhance the commitment and political will to improve the rates of stunting in Ethiopia.
It is indicated that, the Cost of Hunger in Africa result have the potential to bring the issue of child nutrition to forefront of the development arena. The result, as well as the study process itself within Ethiopia has highlighted the need for all sectors to consider the potential benefits of prioritizing child nutrition.
The cost of Hunger in Africa is an African Union-led initiative through which member state countries are able to estimate the social and economic impact of child under nutrition in a given year. Ten10 countries were selected in the first round and of these five were selected as fast track countries. Out of the five except for Mauritania four of them namely Ethiopia, Egypt, Uganda and Swaziland arehad participated in the study and Ethiopia is part of the four pilot countries, that the firs to carry out the study and present results