Preliminary projections presented in the Global Food and nutrition security report, 2020, suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic will double the number of hungry people thus reversing the trend towards zero hunger.
In order to reduce the burden of COVID on nutritional value of people, experts believe that stakeholders particularly the media have the capacity to increase awareness and improve knowledge about food security issues.
In this regard, the Hunger Alliance of Ghana in collaboration with Scaling Up Nutrition with support from the United Nations Office for Project Services, UNOPS, has organised a media round table dialogue on nutrition and COVID 19 pandemic in Tamale.
The objective is to raise the visibility and relevance of nutrition in the media space and mobilise the support of media practitioners to make it a priority issue in Government’s COVID 19 response.
Report
In Ghana, the prevalence of stunting malnutrition is 19 percent nationally but rises to 33 percent in Northern region. The prevalence of acute malnutrition (wasting) is also much higher in the northern regions and at nine percent, is highest in Upper East Region. The media dialogue was to deepen the knowledge of journalists to ensure that they make nutrition the central agenda in media reportage in the fight against COVID 19 pandemic.
A Nutritionist at St Elisabeth Catholic hospital in the Ahafo region, Mrs Pearl Salormey said the unprecedented global social and economic crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic poses grave risks to the nutritional status and survival of young children.
Of particular concern, she added, was an expected increase in child malnutrition including wasting, due to steep decline in household incomes and changes in the availability and affordability of nutritious foods. She expressed worry about how children lose their lives because of malnutrition and called on media practitioners to use their platforms to promote and raise awareness on good nutrition and healthy diets in the fight against COVID-19.
Mrs Salormey is optimistic that through constant education people’s attitude to nutrition and balanced diet will gradually change.
The Northern Regional Director of Nutrition, Hajia Azara Amadu said malnutrition starts from pregnancy and said Ghana Health Service has rolled out interventions to give iron-folic acid as a supplement to pregnant women and children between the ages of ten and nineteen years. She said it was time to redefine the meaning of nutrition and balanced diet since people still perceive that nutrition is all about the foods found in the supermarkets rather than at homes.
Hajia Azara advised the public to patronised locally produced foods in order to get the right nutritional value.
District Officer, Department of Agricultural, Tamale, Pascal Anasigre, said his outfit is intensifying work to producing more food that will be available and accessible to the public. He mentioned Planting for Food and Jobs, Rearing for Food and Jobs, One Village One Dam as some key interventions instituted by government to improve household nutrition and income as well as achieving food security.
Some Journalists who spoke with GBC news advised their colleagues to pay attention to nutrition reporting to educate the public on the importance of nutrition and healthy diets. They also pledged to use their various medium to intensify education on the importance of healthy diet in the fight against COVID 19.
The media has the potential to boost the efforts of stakeholders in scaling up nutrition. It is evident that the media has massive role to play in raising awareness and communicating messages around good nutrition and healthy diets to the masses and also in conducting advocacy efforts to ensure that nutrition remains high on the political agenda and that the right policies, governance structures and actions are put in place to foster accountability across stakeholders.
