A nutrition policy forum was held in Bimbilla in the Northern Region.
The Head of Programs for Grameen Ghana, a Non-Governmental Organization, Mr Mugmin Musah told Citi News at the forum that government is not achieving much in addressing nutrition problems due to serious gaps identified in the implementation of government programs on nutrition.
Malnutrition in the Northern Region has been described as alarming and anaemia are the major deficiencies.
Anaemia among children under 5 years is 82% in Northern Region as against 66% on the national level. This was revealed at a national nutrition policy sharing forum organized by Grameen Ghana in Bimbilla in the Nanumba North District of the Northern Region under the Voice for Change Partnership Project.
He said even though the government is estimated to spend about GHs4.6 billion annually in addressing child under nutrition alone, key challenges such as over reliance on donor funds and inadequate human resources inhibit the progress in achieving sustained impact.
“It has become necessary to organize this forum because we have realized a lot of gaps in the implementation of nutrition programs of government and we found that the national nutrition policy has become something very important in addressing these gaps.”
“We have noted that there are lots of inconsistencies and insufficient coordination in the implementation of nutrition programs by various stakeholders like NGOs, government departments, and others; everybody is doing his own bit of nutrition and if we don’t organized a forum like this for all stakeholders to fall in line with the policy priorities of government, we are not likely to achieve the objectives set in the national nutrition policy.”
He said the forum sought to empower all stakeholders to understand the nutrition policy priorities of Ghana and to hold government accountable in resource allocation and improved nutrition service delivery.
The Northern Regional Nutrition Officer, Alhaji Sofo Mutaru who described the situation as worrying called for a coordinating body where all parties involved in nutrition are brought together to form a synergy and share ideas that could guide the activities in order to improve the nutrition situation especially in Northern Ghana.
Some participants at the forum shared with Citi News their views and expectations.
“We have realized that issues of nutrition is a challenge in the region and particularly in Nanumba North District and this forum is important because of the involvement of key stakeholders on nutrition so that we can all participate in monitoring the implementation of the policy. For me personally, I realized that nutrition goes beyond just food security, having enough food to eat doesn’t make one nutrition secured because the good amount of nutrients required to make you healthy maybe lacking and I think it is good for Ghana Health service to step up efforts to educate our people.”
“We should localized our foods to ensure that the proportion of foodstuffs that could give the right nutrients are consumed. It is not always the case that delicious foods are nutritious,” he said.
The forum was organized by Grameen Ghana in partnership with Ghana Health Service and support from SNV, an International non-profit non-governmental organization with funding from the Netherlands Government. The forum is part of the interventions under the Voice for Change Partnership Program.
The forum brought together various stakeholders like women leaders, caterers, farmer networks, Civil society organisations, health workers, education workers, agricultural officers, the Nanumba North district assembly among others.
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(Via: CitiFM Online Ghana)
