Fatou Kinteh the Minister of Women, Children and Social Welfare has said 47.6% women are illiterate with inequalities at the labour markets and various sectors of society.
She added that gender inequalities and illiteracy also, unfortunately, contribute to vulnerability, malnutrition and reduced resilience for women to address hunger, food security and malnutrition.
She added globally 493 million adult women are illiterate and account for nearly 75% of the world’s 774 million illiterate adults.
According to her, to do things differently “we need more women at the table when we discuss the interface and the importance of health, nutrition, education, agriculture, the economy as well as other sectors, just as an example 46% of girls in the Gambia are married before the age of 18”.
“Girls are powerful agents of socio-economic change if children suffer malnourished deficiencies; they are likely to suffer cognitive development and behavioural challenges”. She said.
She further said a stunted girl is likely to become a stunted adolescent and later as stunted women, apart from direct effects on her health and productivity, adult stunting and underweight will increase the chance that her children will be born with Lower Birth Weight.
“The government and partners should prioritize increased investment in our human capital by increasing expenditure of gender-fair health/nutrition and school feeding interventions”. She remarked.
She said breaking the cycle of hunger and malnutrition is critical to unlocking the development potential of developing countries in this continent particularly for our nation.
Fatou Kinteh, the Minister of Women, Children and Social Welfare was speaking recently at the launching of the ‘Cost of Hunger in Africa (COHA) study report on the Gambia.
The COHA study report discloses and explains the social and economic impact of child malnutrition in the Gambia through the examination of three prime sector; health, education, and productivity and also estimates the cost of undernutrition on the economy of the country.