Nutrition
Integrating RUTF Into NHIS: Strengthening Health Systems and Protecting Ghana’s Future
Malnutrition remains one of the most significant barriers to Ghana’s long-term development. While its effects are most visible in childhood illness and mortality, its consequences extend far beyond the health sector, affecting education outcomes, labor productivity, and economic growth.
Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM), in particular, demands urgent policy attention due to its direct link to preventable child deaths. At the center of the solution lies Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) and the need for its inclusion in the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
NHIS has played a critical role in expanding access to healthcare by reducing out-of-pocket expenditures and improving utilization of services. However, the exclusion of RUTF exposes a structural weakness in the system.
When families cannot access treatment for SAM through NHIS, the burden of care shifts back to households already struggling with poverty and food insecurity.
RUTF is not a luxury commodity; it is an essential medicine for malnutrition. Its formulation allows children to be treated at home, reducing hospitalization costs and improving adherence. Evidence from Ghana and other countries shows that community-based management of acute malnutrition is both effective and scalable when adequately financed.
Failure to integrate RUTF into NHIS creates inefficiencies across the health system. Facilities cannot plan effectively, health workers face ethical dilemmas, and monitoring of outcomes becomes fragmented. By contrast, NHIS coverage would allow for standardized protocols, better data collection, and improved quality of care.
Importantly, integrating RUTF into NHIS would reduce Ghana’s dependence on donor funding for a core child survival intervention.
While development partners play a valuable role, reliance on external funding for essential services poses sustainability risks. National ownership through NHIS financing would ensure continuity of care and long-term impact.
The economic case is equally compelling. Studies consistently show that investments in nutrition yield some of the highest returns in development, often exceeding returns from infrastructure projects. Children who receive timely treatment for malnutrition are more likely to complete school, earn higher incomes, and contribute to national growth.
As Ghana advances its Universal Health Coverage agenda, it is imperative that nutrition interventions are fully integrated into health financing decisions.
Leaving RUTF outside NHIS sends the message that malnutrition is a peripheral issue rather than a core determinant of health and development.
Policymakers have the opportunity to correct this imbalance. Integrating RUTF into NHIS would strengthen the health system, protect vulnerable children, and safeguard Ghana’s future workforce. It is a policy decision grounded in evidence, equity, and national interest.
Key Policy Recommendations: The Ministry of Health and NHIA should immediately commission a costing study to integrate RUTF into the NHIS benefits package by 2027. Parliament’s Health Committee should prioritize oversight of this integration, with quarterly progress reports.
The National Health Insurance Authority must allocate 2-3% of its annual budget to nutrition interventions, including RUTF coverage for all diagnosed SAM cases. District health directorates should establish standardized RUTF distribution protocols, with digital tracking systems to monitor utilization and outcomes.
Finally, the Ghana Health Service should launch a nationwide training programme for health workers on community-based management of acute malnutrition, ensuring quality service delivery from hospital to household level.
Feature article by Women, Media and Change under its Nourish Ghana: Advocating for Increased Leadership to Combat Malnutrition project
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Ghana’s economic conversations often focus on fiscal policy, investment, and productivity. But there is a cost that rarely enters these conversations.
The crippling, compounding cost of malnutrition. According to the Cost of Hunger in Africa (COHA) study, a landmark analysis conducted jointly by the African Union, the UN Economic Commission for Africa, WFP, and UNICEF, malnutrition drains an estimated 6.4 per cent from Ghana’s GDP every year. That is not a nutrition statistic. That is a national economic crisis hiding in plain sight.
What malnutrition actually costs
Malnutrition costs Ghana in ways that are both direct and deeply structural. Stunted children underperform in school, earn less as adults, and are more likely to raise malnourished children of their own, perpetuating a cycle that spans generations. Anaemic women are less productive in the workplace. Malnourished mothers give birth to low-birth-weight babies who face higher rates of illness, hospitalisation, and death. Diet-related diseases like diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease are rising fast, placing a mounting burden on Ghana’s health system and workforce.
The cost of inaction on malnutrition globally is estimated at $41 trillion over the next decade, according to the World Bank’s Investment Framework for Nutrition 2024. a figure that far outweighs the $13 billion annually needed to scale up proven nutrition interventions. For Ghana, the 6.4 per cent of GDP figure represents billions of cedis lost each year through reduced productivity, increased healthcare costs, and compromised human capital.
A problem that pays to solve
The economic case for investing in nutrition is overwhelming. Every dollar invested in nutrition returns an estimated $16 to the local economy. Scaling up proven nutrition interventions such as breastfeeding support, micronutrient supplementation, school feeding, treatment of acute malnutrition, is not charity. It is one of the highest-return investments a government can make.
Ghana’s commitment at the 2025 N4G Paris Summit to spend $6 million annually on nutrition commodities is a start. But $6 million against a problem that costs the economy billions each year is a fraction of what is needed. Ghana’s finance and planning ministries must be brought into the nutrition conversation, not just the health ministry.
A 6.4 per cent GDP loss would trigger emergency cabinet meetings if it came from any other sector. Malnutrition demands the same urgency. Ghana must stop treating nutrition as a health programme and start treating it as the economic and development priority it truly is.
Feature article by Women, Media and Change under its Nourish Ghana: Advocating for Increased Leadership to Combat Malnutrition project
Coconut oil is the oil extracted from raw or dried coconut. At room temperature, pure coconut oil is sold in jars rather than bottles. When heated, it softens or melts, depending on the degree of warmth.
Coconut oil is rich in fatty acids, and contains around 90 per cent saturated fat. It’s almost 50 per cent lauric acid, and also contains about seven other types. The oil is used in beauty products for the skin and hair, as well as for cooking. It can also be used in biofuel.
– Contains medium-chain fatty acids
Coconut oil is different from other dietary oils, because it is mainly composed of medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs), whereas most other oils are almost entirely long-chain fatty acids. This means that the fatty acids in coconut oil are made up of a chain of six to 12 carbon atoms, as opposed to the more than 12 found in long-chain fatty acids. This difference in structure has all sorts of implications, including how the oil is digested to how it influences your body.
-Has anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial and anti-fungal properties
About 50 per cent of the medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs) in coconut oil are a type called lauric acid, which contributes to the oil’s anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial and anti-fungal properties.
– Skin conditions
Limited but consistent evidence appears to support the topical use of coconut oil for the prevention and treatment of mild to moderate cases of chronic skin conditions, such as atopic dermatitis. It has also been shown to alleviate some complex skin conditions, such as eczema or psoriasis.
-Protects hair from damage
The lauric acid in coconut oil appears to have a high affinity for hair protein and, because of the way the oil is structured, is able to penetrate inside the hair shaft. This means coconut oil and products made from it may be useful in preventing the hair damage caused by protein loss due to grooming and ultraviolet (UV) exposure. However, more studies are needed to confirm this effect.
– Prevention of dental caries
Oil pulling is a traditional ayurvedic remedy originally practised in ancient India for the maintenance of oral health. More recent studies suggest the practice of using coconut oil may be beneficial for the prevention of dental caries by reducing plaque formation and gingivitis. However, limitations in sample sizes and duration means a larger number of well-designed randomised controlled trials are needed to determine the true value of coconut oil for this purpose. Healthline.com
