Nutrition
The Life-Saving Power of RUTF and Why It Matters for Ghana’s Children
Introduction:
Malnutrition has quietly become one of Ghana’s most urgent public health threats. Though it may not always dominate headlines like infectious diseases, its effects on children under five are devastating, impacting physical growth, cognitive development, academic potential, and long-term productivity.
What is RUTF?
Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) is a groundbreaking innovation in treating malnutrition. Each sachet contains a scientifically formulated blend of energy, healthy fats, protein, vitamins, and minerals, compacted into a highly absorbable paste.
Malnourished children often have weak digestive systems, making it difficult for their bodies to process ordinary foods or hospital diets. RUTF bypasses these challenges, delivering nutrients in a form the body can immediately use for healing and rebuilding.
Rapid Impact and Benefits:
- Energy levels rise, appetite returns, and weight gain is often noticeable within days.
- Helps prevent complications such as infections, stunting, and developmental delays.
- Can be administered safely at home, reducing the need for frequent hospital visits.
- Frees health facilities to focus on the most critical cases.
Effectiveness:
Studies across Africa show recovery rates of over 80% when RUTF is used correctly. By shortening recovery time, children return to normal growth patterns, rejoin school, and regain the vitality necessary for healthy development.
Why It Matters for Ghana:
RUTF is more than a medical intervention—it’s an investment in the nation’s future. Children who recover from severe malnutrition are more likely to thrive academically, contribute economically, and grow into healthier adults.
The long-term social and economic benefits ripple far beyond households, strengthening Ghana’s human capital and making RUTF a strategic national priority.
By: Women, Media and Change – Nourish Ghana 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.
