Kenya is set to host lawmakers and stakeholders from across the world for the Third Global Parliamentary Summit on Hunger and Malnutrition in Nairobi next week.
The two-day conference, scheduled for Monday, November 16, and Tuesday, November 17, 2026, will bring together parliamentarians and other stakeholders to discuss strategies for addressing food insecurity and malnutrition.
Mandera West MP Adan Yusuf Haji, who chairs the Eastern Africa Parliamentary Alliance on Food Security and Nutrition (EAPA-FSN), said the summit would be the first to be held in Africa.
“We are happy that the summit will be hosted on African soil and in Kenya, for that matter, for the first time,” Haji said during a media breakfast at Parliament Buildings ahead of the meeting.
Kenya becomes the third country to host the global summit, following Spain in 2018 and Chile in 2023.
The event is being organised by the Parliament of Kenya with support from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Kenya.
Haji called on parliaments to increase investment in food security and nutrition programmes, including initiatives to promote indigenous foods and address the effects of poor nutrition.
He said Kenya’s priority should be ensuring that the country can adequately feed its population and provide balanced diets.
“As a country, the first objective is to ensure we are able to feed our nation and guarantee food security. We must provide adequate and balanced food. A country that cannot feed its people and claims to be independent is not independent,” he said.
The legislator warned that the number of people experiencing malnutrition globally remained alarming, requiring urgent intervention and adequate resources.
“Studies have shown that 700 million people in the world are malnourished, while one in five people in Africa is malnourished. There is a need to embrace traditional crops to address food security and nutrition challenges,” he said.
Speaking at the same event, Tigania West MP Dr John Mutunga, who chairs the Departmental Committee on Agriculture and Livestock, said African parliaments needed to identify and implement effective frameworks to strengthen food security and nutrition systems.
Mutunga noted that hunger and malnutrition remained major development challenges that required sustained attention and coordinated interventions.
He also called on the media to provide objective coverage of food security issues, urging journalists to focus on solutions and the impact of hunger on communities.
“Hunger and malnutrition are significant development challenges requiring sustained attention and informed public discourse. We would like to see reporting that goes beyond statistics to highlight the impact of hunger and malnutrition on households, communities and national development,” he said.
The Nairobi summit is expected to provide a platform for parliamentarians and other stakeholders to discuss policies and practical interventions aimed at strengthening food systems, improving nutrition and tackling hunger.
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