When we talk about hunger and malnutrition, I can tell you just how many summits, meetings, conferences and consultations have taken place over the years. We started as far back as 1974 with the World Food Summit, where leaders and professionals - the experts - sought to eliminate hunger and malnutrition.

Now more than 30 years later we are still talking about preventing them. Is it because those that are affected are mostly poor people, who are often not seen or heard?

Why do we as leaders, experts, professionals, service providers not give sufficient attention to those whom we purport to be serving? I really think there's a bit of hypocrisy here and I honestly wish everyone could bring themselves to step back and ask the hard questions. What if we could experience a malnutrition-free, hunger-free world tomorrow, starting with our own immediate families?

The effects and the consequences of malnutrition have been documented, but you don't have to see them on paper; just go to any village in Africa, Latin America, or Asia and you will see hunger and poverty walking around.

It is sad to watch and observe and know that the children being born will never reach their full potential, because of malnutrition. This means that the development of communities, regions, nations, and continents is being hampered by something as preventable as malnutrition.

The reason that more is not being done to prevent malnutrition is because there is not enough true commitment. Commitments are talked about in the form of declarations, resolutions, and the outcomes of meetings. But, when everybody returns to their normal lives, they forget the real client, the person who is affected by hunger and malnutrition.

 Excuses are given about competing priorities but everybody has to eat in order to survive, in order to produce, in order to contribute to some kind of social and economic development, to maintain their own individual health and development. The real priority is that of food.

Until individuals, leaders, countries, systems, organisations and agencies truly commit to improving food and nutrition security, we will forever sing the same song. And it is becoming such a wornout record that, as a nutrition professional, I really get frustrated with hearing it.

I have been told on numerous occasions that nutrition is difficult. I have to ask, what is so difficult about it? My response is: you have to coordinate better, organise yourselves better, you have to be more comprehensive and cohesive in strategic planning and implementation rather than be singing the same old song.

The writer is the  food and nutrition security advisor NEPAD Secretariat.