Nutrition
ABOLO
Abolo or Ablo is a gluten free sweet and slightly sour, steamed dumpling, which is popular amongst the Ewes of Ghana, Togo, Côte D’Ivoire and Benin.
Abolo is made with corn and rice flour, sugar, baking powder andyeast.
It is best enjoyed with a spicy tomato salsa (known as raw pepper), and fried tiny white baits known as ‘one man thousand’.
Note: Steaming the Ablo or Abolo in a banana leaf, will require a thicker mixture, hence add the extra dry ingredients.
It can be Abolo with Ademe dessi, shito, okro soup etc.
Ingredients
100grammes of corn flour
60 grammes of corn starch
300grammes ofrice flour
Half teaspoonsful of baking soda
7grammes of dry yeast
2 tablespoonfuls of sugar
Water
Preparation
- Clean maize
- Wash in clean water.
- Grind into small grits.
- Wash grits in clean water to further remove the chaff.
- Mix washed grits with sifted flour and allow to stand for one hour. Mill the mixture into a fine texture.
- Divide finely milled flour into two parts.
- Add salt and a little water to one part of the flour.
- Put on fire and cook partially to obtain an aflata.
- Add the wheat flour and mix well.
- Add the rest of the cornflour, stir to form a stiff paste.
- Fetch and wrap the soft paste in clean leaves.
- Arrange in a steamer and steam for some minutes over boiling water.
- Remove from steamer and serve with your desired sauce, stew or soup with fried fish.
Source: Pulse.comgh
Egg stew is a traditional dish from Ghana. It is very healthy and easy to prepare. The dish is traditionally served with rice, plantain and any other meal of one’s choice.
Ingredients
-1 litre of vegetable oil
-2 fresh salmon
-10 large tomatoes
-5 large onions
– 6 eggs
-3 tablespoonful of pepper
-1 tablespoonful of powdered garlic and ginger
-1 tin of mackerel
– I large green pepper
-3 tablespoonful of tomatoes paste
Preparation
-Wash tomatoes, onion, green pepper and blend
-Put oil on fire and add onion and powdered pepper to it
-When onions turn golden brown, add blended tomatoes and tomato paste to it. (Allow it to cook for 3 minutes.)
-Add eggs and salmon to stew and leave it for a minute before stirring.
– Add seasoning to the stew and serve.
By Linda Abrefi Wadie
Every baby deserves a healthy start. But in Ghana, too many children are being born already behind, too small, too fragile, and at far greater risk than their peers. Low birth weight, defined as weighing less than 2.5 kilograms at birth, affects an estimated one in seven newborns in this country.
That is a significant proportion of children beginning life at a disadvantage, often due to preventable causes.
Children born with low birth weight face a steeply uphill journey from their very first breath. They are more susceptible to birth asphyxia, infections, hypothermia, and respiratory complications.
They are more likely to die in their first month of life. Those who survive face higher risks of stunting, impaired cognitive development, and a greater likelihood of developing non-communicable diseases including type two diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease later in life.
Low birth weight does not just harm the child today. It shapes their health for decades.
The most powerful determinant of a baby’s birth weight is what the mother eats, and how healthy she is before and during pregnancy. Research in Ghana has consistently shown that maternal anaemia, poor dietary diversity, and inadequate antenatal care are all strongly linked to low birth weight.
A study in Cape Coast found that mothers with low dietary diversity during pregnancy were significantly more likely to deliver low birth weight babies. In Northern Ghana, maternal anaemia in both the first and third trimesters of pregnancy increased the risk of low birth weight. What a woman eats is what her baby weighs.
Education matters too. Mothers with secondary or higher education have been found to be less likely to deliver a low-birth-weight baby, a difference attributed to better nutrition knowledge, improved antenatal care attendance, and healthier health-seeking behaviour overall.
This points clearly to the need for a whole-of-society response, not just a clinical one.
Ghana has made some progress on low birth weight, but the burden remains unacceptably high and in some parts of the country, it is worsening. Other important risk factors must not be overlooked.
Adolescent pregnancy, which remains prevalent in several regions, is strongly associated with low birth weight because young mothers are often still growing and competing with the fetus for nutrients.
Malaria infection during pregnancy, particularly in endemic areas of Ghana, damages the placenta and restricts nutrient transfer, further increasing the likelihood of a low-birth-weight baby.
These risk factors compound the effects of poor maternal nutrition and limited antenatal care. Leaders in government, health facilities, and communities must prioritise maternal nutrition before, during, and after pregnancy.
Reducing low birth weight is not complicated. It requires feeding mothers well, supporting them through antenatal care, ensuring access to iron-folic acid supplementation and malaria prevention during pregnancy, and treating their health as a national priority, not an afterthought.
Feature article by Women, Media and Change under its Nourish Ghana: Advocating for Increased Leadership to Combat Malnutrition project
