KINSHASA - Malnutrition is the cause of over half of all infant mortality in central Africa, a minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) told a meeting on the theme of nutrition here Monday.

"Malnutrition is at the root, every year, of close to 54 percent of children's deaths registered in hospitals in our respective countries," said Culture and Arts Minister Marthe Ngalula, representing the DRC Health Ministry, AFP reported. Health experts from Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, Equitorial Guinea, Gabon, Madagascar, Sao Tome and Principe and DRC are attending this week's gathering on the theme of "Nutrition: An Efficient Weapon in the Fight Against Poverty."

The talks are the first in a series of annual meetings co-sponsored by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

UNICEF's local representative Jan Scholten said that between 30 to 40 percent of youth in the region were affected by malnutrition.

DRC, the host, is one of the region's most severely hit countries, where over 60 percent of children suffer from malnutrition, according to National Nutrition Program statistics.