Good nutrition is a 'fundamental human right' – EC

The European Commission (EC) and the research project INSTAPA (Improved Nutrition through Staple Foods in Africa) said they are improving the average daily diet of children and mothers living in Sub-Saharan Africa, not by altering it but by biologically enriching it. The EC called the access to complete and varied nutrition a fundamental human right

The EC said malnutrition is the cause of about a third of the annual child death toll and of 20% of death during pregnancy worldwide.

The EC is funding INSTAPA with the intention of ensuring complete and varied nutrition in the poorest areas of Africa such as Benin, Mali, Kenya and Burkina Faso. The Commission said the total project costs €7.73 million, with €5.8 million coming from the European Commission's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7).

According to the EC the typical staple foods in Sub-Saharan Africa consist of cereals, such as millet, sorghum and maize, and tubers such as cassava. This food, it said, is poor in essential micronutrients, resulting in a variety of health problems and, related to this, higher mortality. The Commission said this is especially severe for pregnant women and young children, who have increased dietary requirements of such micronutrients

INSTAPA said it tackles the vicious circle of malnutrition with a preventive approach: through bio-fortification and post-harvest processing, it aims to supply enriched staple foods. In  2009,  INSTAPA scientists selected crops with increased nutritional value (both in terms of quantity and higher bioavailability of the micronutrients) which were then grown. "This resulted in an overall more balanced intake of minerals and vitamins," the research project said.

INSTAPA explained that the average daily diet is therefore being improved from the very core. "New recipes booklets have been developed to suggest ways of grinding and cooking which maintain the nutritional value of the cereals: sometimes it only takes a combination of palm oil, cereals and vegetables to ensure a complete meal," INSTAPA said.

The research agency said this preventive approach is innovative as it improves the quality of everyday food and involves families as active agents of the change. "The cultivation of biologically valuable cereals and tubers is also offering local SMEs a chance to diversify their economy, in cohesion with the UN Millennium Goals to fight poverty," INSTAPA said.

The project's goal is to provide valid, long-term strategies to reverse malnutrition, bringing together scientific and technological excellence from Africa and Europe. INSTAPA involves an entire network of scientists and academics who are monitoring and assessing the actual impact of an improved diet on children's growth and maternal health.