By Rachel Kakraba
A Professor of Public Health Nutrition at the Fred Newton Binka School of Public Health, University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ho, Prof. Francis Bruno Zotor, has reiterated the need for Ghana to prioritise nutrition, particularly maternal nutrition. He stressed that this is vital for protecting the lives of newborns and securing the country’s future.
Prof. Zotor was speaking to GBC News during a capacity-building workshop for Civil Society Organisations and media practitioners on maternal and child nutrition advocacy in Accra.
The workshop was organised by the Coalition of Actors for Public Health Advocacy (CAPHA), in partnership with Women, Media and Change (WOMEC). It equipped participants with knowledge and skills to advocate for increased leadership and action to combat malnutrition in the country.
Prof. Zotor emphasised that fetal development is closely linked to maternal nutrition, highlighting the importance of proper nutrition for expectant mothers.
“When the mother conceives or is pregnant, that mother has to eat the right nutrition. The kind of nutrition that the woman eats is very important, is very critical, because that baby would need the right nutrients to grow into a healthy, bouncing baby,” he said.
He added, “When you talk about maternal nutrition, if a woman does not eat healthily, that woman cannot give birth to a healthy, bouncing baby. That is why it’s very critical for us to be concerned about the nutrition of the mother.”
He expressed concern that despite Ghana’s abundance of food, particularly the rich nutritional value of many indigenous dishes, these have largely been overlooked in favour of junk foods.
“Ghana still has a long way to go because we see a situation where there is an abundance of food. Wherever you are in the country, there are certain indigenous foods that we can eat and that will provide the health that we need, rather than looking to the West and importing,” he said.
He called for increased public sensitisation on the nutritional benefits of indigenous foods to encourage their wider adoption and proper utilisation.
“We’ve got to begin to educate mothers, fathers, and teenagers—everybody in society—about eating foods that are available within their local community. That is the only way forward. But if we rely on foods that are imported, there is nothing in it; there is no benefit to us.”
Prof. Zotor also stated that the withdrawal of funding by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), amounting to $163 million, has left several organisations struggling to sustain their projects. He said this development is a wake-up call, highlighting the urgent need for Ghana to shift from donor dependence and explore local resources and solutions.
“Ghana as a country can wake up from the doldrums and begin to look around. Use the academics, use the scientists, agriculturalists, nutritionists, the dieticians, the food scientists, let us come together at the round table. If we look up to the West, the West cannot help us. If we look up to other bodies, they cannot help us. But we can look at what we have within our environment and be able to help ourselves.”
He said a collaborative national effort is needed to harness local knowledge and innovation for sustainable development.
Executive Director of Women, Media and Change (WOMEC), Dr. Charity Binka, emphasised that strengthening nutrition advocacy calls for strategic collaboration with the media to ensure the message reaches the wider population.
“Step up advocacy around nutrition by working effectively with the media, because many people depend on the media for vital information. If the media is missing from this whole discussion, then who is talking to whom? The media platform is such a huge platform that one word from a radio station can go beyond the borders of Ghana.”
She urged the media to take a more intentional approach to educating the public on malnutrition, stressing its importance for the well-being of society.
“Apart from the funding we are looking for, education is so key to whatever we are saying here today. We can have all the policies, we can even get all the funding, if there’s nobody to amplify the voices of the experts to let people know that this is what it is, that is why we are getting involved.”
Director of Operations at the Coalition of Actors for Public Health Advocacy (CAPHA), Dr. Kasim Abdulai, said malnutrition costs Ghana GH₵4.6 billion annually in lost productivity and healthcare expenses.
He noted that CAPHA, in collaboration with its partners, is conducting a study on maternal and child nutrition funding, focusing on the potential impact of USAID’s withdrawal from Ghana.
The study will, among other things, assess the existing funding landscape for maternal and child nutrition in Ghana, identify key funding gaps, evaluate the potential consequences of USAID’s withdrawal on the sustainability of programmes, and explore strategies to mitigate any negative impacts.
