Nutrition
Low birth weight in Ghana: Why too many babies are starting life at a disadvantage
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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
Ingredients
-Cocoyam leaves (Nkontomire)
-Palm oil
-Ripped Plantain
-2 Large smoked salmon
-1 cowhide (wele)
-1 cup of Egusi
– Momoni
-3 fresh eggs
-2 large onions
-2 large tomatoes
-Pepper
-Ginger
-Garlic
Method
-Wash cocoyam leaves thoroughly under running water
-Cut cocoyam leaves into stripes and wash for the second time
-Blend tomatoes, onion, pepper, ginger, and garlic together
-Put sauce pan on fire and heat palm oil
-Add blended ingredients and allow to cook for about 5 minutes
– Wash salmon, wele and cut into cubes and add to stew
-Add salt
-Add eggs to egusi in a bowl to form paste and add it to stew
-Add to stew and allow to simmer for seven minutes
-Add cocoyam leaves to stew and allow it to cook for sometime
-Wash, peel plantain and cut into shapes
-Cook for some time (Pour water out and serve with stew)
By Linda Abrefi Wadie
Every year, Ghana produces thousands of tonnes of nutritious food but a significant share of it never reaches a plate. Fruit spoils before it’s sold. Vegetables rot in transit. Grains are ruined by poor storage. Conversations about nutrition often focus on growing more food but reducing what’s lost or wasted after harvest may be one of the fastest ways to improve food security and nutrition, without farming a single extra acre.
The cost of losing nutritious food
Fresh fruit and vegetables spoil the fastest, and without adequate storage, cooling, or transport, farmers are often forced to sell at rock-bottom prices or watch their harvest go to waste. That squeezes farmers’ incomes and shrinks the supply of nutritious food reaching local markets. As supply falls, prices rise, pushing healthy food further out of reach for the low-income households that need it most.
Nutrition begins beyond the farm gate
Cutting post-harvest losses means more nutritious food reaches families without needing more farmland or higher yields. When tomatoes, mangoes, and leafy greens are preserved through better storage, drying, or processing, they stay available and affordable for longer. Better handling also protects nutritional quality itself, so the vitamins and minerals in food aren’t lost before it ever reaches a consumer.
Supporting farmers supports nutrition
Many farmers still lack access to storage facilities, cold chains, processing equipment, and reliable transport. Strengthening these systems is a win on both ends: farmers earn more from what they grow, and households gain more affordable access to nutritious food. Local processing, such as turning surplus fruit into juices, dried fruit, or purees, can extend shelf life and cut waste even further.
What needs to change?
Reducing food loss takes coordinated action:
• Government: invest in rural roads, storage infrastructure, irrigation, and agricultural extension services.
• Private sector: expand cold storage, food processing, and distribution networks.
• Research institutions: keep developing better post-harvest preservation technology.
• Consumers: plan meals, store food properly, and make safe use of leftovers.
Looking ahead
As Ghana works to tackle malnutrition in all its forms, cutting food loss deserves a place at the top of the agenda. Growing more food matters, but making sure the food already grown actually reaches families, safely and affordably, matters just as much.
Every basket of tomatoes saved, every crate of mangoes preserved, and every bag of grain protected from spoilage adds up to better nutrition, stronger livelihoods, and a more resilient food system for the future.
Feature article by Women, Media and Change under its Nourish Ghana: Advocating for Increased Leadership to Combat Malnutrition project
