Nutrition
A healthy nation: Why maternal and child nutrition must be a national priority
Every hour, two Ghanaian children die from nutrition-related causes, deaths that are entirely preventable with the right investments. Yet, nutrition continues to receive less than 0.4 per cent of Ghana’s health budget. As donor funding declines, the future of maternal and child nutrition in Ghana hangs in the balance.
The first 1,000 days of life, thus, from pregnancy to a child’s second birthday, are the most critical for human development. Poor nutrition during this crucial window can lead to irreversible harm, including cognitive delays, weakened immunity, poor school performance, and limited earning potential. Ghana loses over GH¢4.6 billion each year to malnutrition through lost productivity and increased healthcare costs, yet essential nutrition interventions remain underfunded or reliant on external donors.
Research has shown that up to 60 per cent of Ghana’s nutrition programming is funded externally. The withdrawal of USAID alone threatens a funding shortfall of $156 million, including significant cuts to maternal and child health programmes, nutrition supplements, mobile clinics, and support for treating severe acute malnutrition. Over a million children may lose access to vital care as a result.
Policy and structural gaps further compound the crisis. Ghana lacks laws enforcing nutrition standards for pregnant women and young children. Nutrition is poorly integrated into national development plans and receives fragmented support across ministries.
To change current trends, Ghana must honor its pledge of allocating USD 6 million annually, made at the recent Nutrition for Growth Summit in Paris, for the procurement of essential nutrition commodities. Achieving this requires establishing a dedicated budget line for nutrition, enhancing coordination across sectors, and strengthening domestic resource mobilization efforts.
Women, Media and Change, a national Non-governmental Organization, is committed to supporting advocacy on malnutrition under its project “Nourish Ghana: Advocating for Increased Leadership to Combat Malnutrition”. The initiative seeks to strengthen national policies on nutrition and ensure that decision makers prioritise investment in high-impact nutrition interventions
Nutrition is not charity; it is a right. A nourished child today becomes a healthy, productive citizen tomorrow.
Ingredients
• 5 cups of white cooked rice
• 5 tablespoonful of oil
• 2 pounds of chicken (drum sticks)
• 3/4 teaspoonful of grounded ginger
• Salt to taste
• 1/4 teaspoonful ground pepper
• 1 large onion
• 2 large garlic
• 1 cup frozen peas and carrots
• 5 large eggs
• 3 large carrot
• 5 tablespoonful soy sauce
• 3 tablespoonful of chopped green onions
Preparation
- Cut chicken into pieces and put it on fire in a pan
- Add ginger, salt and pepper to chicken
- Allow it to cook for five minutes
- Put a saucepan on fire and pour 2 tablespoonful of oil
- Add cooked chicken to the oil and fry
- Add eggs, diced onion, garlic, peas and carrots and stir
- Add cooked rice to vegetables and stir
- Sprinkle soy sauce and stir
- Serve dish with shito, hot pepper or sauce
By Linda Abrefi Wadie
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Despite RUTF’s proven ability to save lives, access to it in Ghana remains inconsistent. Many caregivers face long travel distances to treatment centres, only to be told that supplies have run out. Others rely on community health workers who do their best but struggle with stock shortages. The core challenge is simple: RUTF in Ghana depends heavily on donors, and when global priorities shift or funding gaps emerge, children suffer.
RUTF’s which stands for Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food is a high-energy, micronutrient-rich food paste designed to treat severe acute malnutrition in children. This raises an important question: why is a life-saving product, essential to child survival, not covered under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS)?
Including RUTF in NHIS would mark a monumental shift in how Ghana approaches child health. Firstly, it would ensure that access to RUTF becomes a national obligation, not an act of charity. Severe acute malnutrition is a medical condition, just like malaria, pneumonia, or diabetes, and must be treated as such. With RUTF included in the NHIS medicines list, families would be guaranteed treatment without depending on unpredictable donor supplies.
Secondly, integrating RUTF into NHIS is cost-effective. Untreated malnutrition leads to complications such as severe infections, developmental delays, and prolonged hospital admissions, all of which are far more expensive for the health system than early intervention. Investing in RUTF through NHIS would reduce long-term healthcare costs while strengthening Ghana’s commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 2 and SDG 3.
Thirdly, including RUTF in the scheme would help eliminate inequities. Currently, access varies by region. Children in remote or hard-to-reach communities often suffer the most. When RUTF is made universally available, every child is guaranteed treatment when they need it.
Additionally, NHIS coverage of RUTF would help streamline procurement systems, improve supply chain consistency and strengthen accountability mechanisms, a gap that currently undermines national nutrition efforts.
At its core, this is an issue of fairness, governance, and national responsibility. If Ghana truly prioritises child survival, then RUTF must be placed where it belongs, that is, within the NHIS as an essential, guaranteed treatment.
Feature article by Women, Media and Change under its Nourish Ghana: Advocating for Increased Leadership to Combat Malnutrition project
