Hunger has taken hold across Africa. We need a new approach to tackling its causes | President Alassane Ouattara

This week's African Union summit in Ivory Coast is an opportunity to work towards a holistic food security strategy

Malnutrition looms large in Africa. Over a fifth of the continent's 1.3 billion people faced hunger last year, more than twice the level of any other continent.

Even before the war in Ukraine jeopardised supplies to many African countries of grain and fertiliser needed to feed their people or for growing crops, Covid-19 had disturbed food processing and supply chains, affecting world economies and provoking agricultural and food inflation.