Nutrition
Leadership, accountability, and the urgent need to prioritise nutrition outcomes
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
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In March 2025, world leaders gathered in Paris for the Nutrition for Growth (N4G) Summit, the most important global gathering on malnutrition of the decade. Over $30 billion in new financial commitments were pledged globally by more than 170 actors from 82 countries. Ghana was there. Ghana made commitments. The question now is: are those commitments enough, and will they be delivered?
Ghana made 10 commitments at the 2025 N4G Summit. One of the most significant is a pledge to spend at least $6 million annually from 2026 for the procurement of essential nutrition commodities including ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF), multiple micronutrient supplements (MMS), iron-folic acid tablets, vitamin A supplements, and anthropometric equipment for measuring child growth.
This financial commitment is meaningful. For years, Ghana’s nutrition programmes have depended heavily on donor funding, leaving services vulnerable to aid cuts and supply disruptions. A domestic budget line for nutrition commodities signals a shift toward ownership and sustainability. It also directly supports Ghana’s Nutrition for Growth commitments from the 2021 Tokyo Summit, several of which remain off track.
The Bigger Picture
The 2025 N4G Summit was about more than funding. It called for systemic change: embedding nutrition in food systems, health coverage, climate resilience, and gender equality. Every dollar invested in nutrition is estimated to return $16 to the local economy. Yet malnutrition still costs Ghana an estimated 6.4 per cent of its GDP annually. That is not a public health statistic. It is an economic emergency.
The National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) has acknowledged that converting summit outcomes into actionable change requires transparent policy dialogue and locally driven solutions.
Commitments made in Paris must be tracked, funded, and implemented in Ghana’s communities. Programmes must move from pilot scale to national coverage. That will not happen without sustained political will, dedicated domestic financing, and public accountability.
Commitments made on global stages matter. But they only become meaningful when they translate into services in communities. The question is not what Ghana promised in Paris. It is what Ghana delivers at home.
Feature article by Women, Media and Change under its Nourish Ghana: Advocating for Increased Leadership to Combat Malnutrition project
Cabbage is very rich in fibre, the main supplier of roughage. This helps the body retain water and it maintains the bulkiness of the food as it moves through the bowels.
Thus, it is a good remedy for constipation and other digestion-related problems.
Ingredients
-1 large cabbage
– 4 large fresh tomatoes
– 1 large onion
– Pepper
-Garlic
-2 large salmon
-1 tin of mackerel
-2 large green pepper
-Salt to taste
Preparation
-Chop cabbage roughly and wash in a large pot of water
-Pour vinegar on it and wait until you make other preparations. Then drain.
-Heat coconut oil in a saucepan over medium heat
-Cook and stir onion in hot oil until onion turns dark brown.
-Blend tomatoes, green pepper, garlic and onion and add to the oil
-Add tomato paste, mackerel and salmon to stew
-Add cabbage, stir and cover to cook for 7 – 10 minutes
-Allow to simmer when it is soft and serve with rice, yam etc.
