Nutrition
From donor dependence to national ownership: Ghana’s path to sustainable child nutrition
An estimated 68,517 children in Ghana currently suffer from Severe Acute Malnutrition, yet only about 15 percent receive treatment. This gap is not due to a lack of effective solutions, but to limited and unstable access driven by fragmented, donor-dependent financing. As Ghana advances toward universal health coverage and economic self-reliance, ensuring sustainable and equitable child nutrition services requires urgent policy action.
Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) and Multiple Micronutrient Supplements (MMS) are proven, cost-effective interventions. RUTF achieves recovery rates of 75–90 percent among children with severe acute malnutrition, while MMS reduces low birth weight and preterm birth. Both interventions are included in Ghana’s Essential Medicines List and Standard Treatment Guidelines. National protocols are finalised and disseminated, and over 600 health workers have been trained. In short, Ghana has laid the policy and technical groundwork.
Despite this readiness, access remains constrained by reliance on donor funding. Time-bound financing leads to supply disruptions, uneven geographic coverage, and weak long-term planning. Service availability often reflects donor priorities rather than population need.
Most critically, national ownership is undermined when lifesaving child nutrition interventions depend on external support. Donor dependence also limits system integration. Nutrition services delivered through projects remain peripheral to routine care. Health facilities cannot fully integrate RUTF and MMS into standard maternal and child health services without predictable supply. Data systems, quality assurance, and accountability mechanisms remain fragmented, preventing these interventions from reaching scale and impact.
Integrating RUTF and MMS into the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) offers a clear pathway to sustainable national ownership. With 84 percent of mothers of children under five already enrolled, NHIS provides an existing platform for rapid and equitable scale-up. The 2025 uncapping of the National Health Insurance Levy further strengthens the financing base. NHIS inclusion would remove out-of-pocket costs for vulnerable families, standardise service delivery nationwide, and embed nutrition care within routine health services.
The cost implications are manageable. MMS costs approximately USD 2.50 per pregnancy for a full course, representing a small fraction of current undernutrition spending. Timely community-based RUTF treatment also reduces costly hospital admissions for complicated and severe malnutrition. Ongoing Health Technology Assessments will provide Ghana-specific evidence to guide reimbursement decisions.
Domestic financing brings broader benefits. It ensures stronger government accountability, improved data reporting, better quality assurance, and long-term planning beyond donor cycles. Most importantly, it affirms that the survival and wellbeing of Ghanaian children are national responsibilities.
The policy decision before Ghana’s leadership is clear. The clinical evidence supports RUTF and MMS. The regulatory framework is established. The implementation capacity exists through trained health workers and operational guidelines. The financing mechanism is available through NHIS with its recently expanded revenue base. What remains is the political committment to prioritise sustainable nutrition financing as part of Ghana’s Universal Health Coverage roadmap and broader development agenda.
Donor support has been valuable in establishing these interventions and building implementation capacity. The transition to domestic financing should be viewed not as disengagement but as graduating to full national ownership. Development partners can continue supporting technical assistance, capacity building, and innovation while Ghana secures sustaining coverage at scale.
The gap between 15 percent coverage and the 80 to 90 percent achievable with adequate financing represents thousands of preventable child deaths and compromised maternal health outcomes annually. Closing this gap through NHIS integration of RUTF and MMS is not merely a technical health financing decision. It is a statement of national values and priorities, affirming that every Ghanaian child deserves access to lifesaving nutrition treatment regardless of circumstance. It is a foundation for sustainable human capital development.
Feature article by Women, Media and Change under its Nourish Ghana: Advocating for Increased Leadership to Combat Malnutrition project.
Join our WhatsApp Channel now!
https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbBElzjInlqHhl1aTU27
Ingredients
Egusi soup:
- 2 cups ground egusi (melon seeds)
- 1 kg assorted meat (beef, goat)
- Stockfish (pre-soaked/boiled) and smoked fish
- ½ to ¾ cup palm oil
- 5 cups spinach or bitter leaf
- 1 large onion
- 2–3 seasoning cubes
- Scotch bonnet pepper (to taste)
- 1–2 tablespoons ground crayfish
Eba:
- Gari (white or yellow/red oil-fortified)
- Boiling water
Preparation
For Egusi Soup:
- Boil the assorted meat with chopped onions, seasoning cubes, and salt until tender. Reserve the meat stock.
- Heat palm oil in a clean pot on medium heat. Add finely chopped onions and sauté.
- Add the ground egusi and fry for 8–10 minutes, stirring constantly to prevent burning, until it turns slightly toasted and crumbly.
- Gradually add the reserved meat stock to the fried egusi while stirring to avoid lumps.
- Cover the pot and let egusi simmer for 15–20 minutes, stirring occasionally until the oil separates and rises to the top.
- Add ground crayfish, pepper, and the cooked meat/fish. Stir and cook for another 5–10 minutes.
- Add the washed/chopped vegetables (spinach or bitter leaf) and simmer for 2–5 minutes until wilted but still green.
For Eba:
- Boil water in a kettle or pot until it reaches a rolling boil.
- Pour hot water into a bowl. Gradually sprinkle the gari into the hot water.
- Stir vigorously with a wooden spatula to prevent lumps until the gari is fully incorporated and smooth.
- Cover the bowl for 1–2 minutes to allow the heat to steam the eba.
- By Theresa Tsetse
Join our WhatsApp Channel now!
https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbBElzjInlqHhl1aTU27
The persistence of malnutrition in Ghana raises important questions about leadership and accountability in nutrition governance. While technical expertise and donor support are available, progress remains uneven due to weak accountability mechanisms and limited political prioritisation.
Effective leadership for nutrition requires more than policy statements. It demands clear targets, sustained financing, and transparent monitoring systems.
Nutrition outcomes must be tracked and publicly reported, allowing citizens to assess government performance.
Accountability must extend across all levels of government. National leadership sets the tone, but district and regional authorities are responsible for implementation.
Strengthening leadership capacity at these levels is essential to ensure that national commitments translate into tangible results.
The media and civil society play a critical role in sustaining advocacy and demanding accountability.
By keeping nutrition on the public agenda, they help ensure that commitments are not forgotten once policy documents are launched.
Ghana’s development ambitions, including middle-income growth and human capital development, cannot be achieved while malnutrition persists.
Nutrition outcomes should be treated as indicators of governance effectiveness, alongside economic growth and infrastructure delivery.
Leadership that prioritises nutrition sends a powerful signal about national values and priorities. It demonstrates a commitment to equity, child survival, and long-term prosperity.
The fight against malnutrition is ultimately a test of leadership. Ghana has the knowledge, resources, and capacity to succeed. What is needed now is the political will to act decisively and hold institutions accountable for results.
Key policy recommendations: The Ghana Statistical Service should establish a National Nutrition Dashboard, publishing real-time data on stunting, wasting, and micronutrient deficiencies by district and region, updated quarterly and accessible to the public.
Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) must conduct annual nutrition expenditure reviews, tracking budget allocations versus actual spending across all MDAs.
The Office of the President should institute an Annual National Nutrition Summit where Ministers and DCEs present progress reports, with independent evaluation by civil society organizations.
The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) should launch a “Nutrition Accountability Campaign” educating citizens on nutrition as a governance issue and how to demand action from elected officials. Media houses should be supported to develop specialized nutrition reporting units that investigate and expose gaps in service delivery.
Finally, the Auditor-General’s office should include nutrition programme audits in its annual work plan, examining value-for-money and impact of nutrition investments with findings presented to Parliament.
Feature article by Women, Media and Change under its Nourish Ghana: Advocating for Increased Leadership to Combat Malnutrition project
Join our WhatsApp Channel now!
https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbBElzjInlqHhl1aTU27
News4 days agoCSP Catherine Gagakuma: The Firm, Fair, Fearless Officer in Charge at Awutu Camp Prison
- News5 days ago
Ghana Zambian Relations: President Mahama calls for economic reset and deeper cooperation
- News5 days ago
God has revealed Ghana’s next president, names Wontumi as NPP chairman- Nigel Gaisie
