News
Time poverty, nutrition crisis: How working hours are reshaping diets of families
In many Ghanaian households today, the workday no longer ends at 5pm. In busy Ghanaian cities such as Accra and Kumasi, parents experience traffic-clogged streets. Traders and market women rise before dawn, health workers are on rotating shifts, and informal-sector workers juggle multiple jobs, thus, long work hours have become the norm rather than the exception. While these extended hours may help to keep some families financially afloat, they are also quietly changing dietary patterns in ways that threaten the health of both parents and their children.
Ghana cannot lecture families into healthy eating while work and commuting steal the time needed to cook, we must treat time poverty as a nutrition risk and design policy around it. A recent study published in the Journal of Development Effectiveness confirms what many Ghanaian parents already feel that when time is scarce, nutrition is the first sacrifice. Also, in the Greater Accra Region, researchers from Feminist Economics have highlighted that long working hours and long commutes are pushing families especially women, away from traditional, nutritious diets toward convenience foods that are cheap, fast, and unhealthy. This shift is contributing to under nutrition in children and the rising rate overweight, obesity, and diet-related chronic diseases among adults and adolescents.
Parents who work long hours have little time available to themselves. Meal planning, food preparation, and shared family meals may be reduced at home due to exhaustion. As a result, households increasingly rely on ultra-processed foods, fried foods, sugary beverages, and refined carbohydrates. These foods are energy-dense but nutrient-poor, lacking essential micronutrients such as iron, zinc, vitamin A, and folic acid, nutrients critical for child growth and cognitive development.
Children are especially vulnerable. When parents are time constrained, children’s diets are shaped by caregivers, older siblings, or their own food choices. Breakfast may be skipped entirely, lunch money may often be spent on pastries, sweetened drinks, instant noodles, or fried snacks sold near schools and dinner, when it happens, may be eaten late at night and consist of leftovers or fast food. Over time, these patterns increase the risk of stunting, micronutrient deficiencies, and obesity.
For parents themselves, the health consequences are equally troubling. Long work hours are associated with irregular eating patterns and heavy reliance on fast foods. Combined with physical inactivity and chronic stress, these dietary habits increase the risk of hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases and conditions that are already rising rapidly in Ghana.
Some may argue that the issue is not working hours but personal responsibility. After all, healthy Ghanaian foods such as “kontomire” stew, beans, millet porridge, vegetables, fruits, still exist and are still popular diets. But this argument overlooks structural reality. A parent who spends three hours commuting and ten hours working has limited capacity to shop daily and cook from scratch. In this context, food choices are shaped less by preference and more by time constraints, labour conditions, and urban design.
Others may point out that long working hours are unavoidable in a developing economy, particularly in the informal sector where social protections are weak. That may be true, but accepting long hours as inevitable does not mean ignoring their health consequences. Public health policy must adapt to these realities rather than pretend they do not exist.
So what then must be done? Addressing this issue requires coordinated action across sectors. The Ministry of Health and Ghana Health Service should recognize time poverty as a determinant of diet and promote workplace nutrition standards, including protected meal breaks. Employers, education authorities, and local assemblies must strengthen healthy food environments in workplaces and schools while incentivizing vendors to provide more nutritious options. Transport and urban planning authorities should also reduce commuting time, as time savings can support healthier household dietary practices.
Ghana cannot afford to treat dietary patterns as a purely private matter. When parents’ long work hours distort what families eat, the consequences ripple across generations, affecting child growth, adult productivity, and the future burden on the health system. If we are serious about improving nutrition and health, we must look beyond the plate and confront the working conditions that shape what ends up on it. The health of Ghana’s parents and children depends on it.
By Grace Fia
A new international whitepaper on democracy in Africa has placed Ghana’s Minority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, at the centre of a major research study on the role of opposition parties in strengthening democratic governance across the continent.
The study is being conducted by the African Chamber of Content Producers (ACCP) in partnership with the Universal Peace Federation (UPF) Ghana.
It uses Ghana’s 2025/2026 parliamentary session as a case study to examine how opposition parties can contribute to peace, development and democratic stability.
President of the ACCP, Nana Dwomoh-Doyen Benjamin, said the research forms part of a wider continental project aimed at identifying successful governance models in Africa.
He explained that the chamber is interested in promoting positive African stories and finding practical democratic systems that other countries can adopt.
Mr. Dwomoh-Doyen said political differences should not create division or hostility among leaders and citizens.
He stated that despite belonging to different political sides, people must work together in the interest of national development.
According to him, Ghana’s democratic journey and parliamentary system made the country an important case for the study.
The whitepaper, titled “A Strong and Responsible Opposition in Africa: A Ghanaian Case Study (2025/2026 Review)”, reviews the Minority Leader’s parliamentary activities, including his statements, motions and media engagements.
Researchers are also conducting public opinion surveys in Accra, Kumasi and Tamale as part of the study.
Head of ACCP’s Liberia branch, Dr. Murphy T. Jackson, said African countries should formally recognise and support the office of the Leader of the Opposition through legal structures and institutional resources.
He noted that such systems would help reduce the chances of unconstitutional changes of government on the continent.
Head of Research at ACCP Ghana, David Adofo, described Ghana’s opposition institution as one of the strongest in Africa.
He said although the current research focuses on Ghana, future studies would examine opposition institutions in other African countries.
Deputy Secretary General of UPF-Ghana, Tegha King, stressed the importance of a responsible opposition in national development.
Speaking on behalf of the Universal Peace Federation and the International Association of Parliamentarians for Peace (IAPP), he said opposition parties should not be seen as enemies of progress.
According to him, respectful debate, alternative policy ideas and cross-party dialogue are necessary for strong democratic institutions and national peace.
The research comes at a time when some African countries are experiencing political instability and military takeovers.
Despite these challenges, Ghana continues to be recognised as one of Africa’s stable democracies, having recorded several peaceful transfers of power since 1992.
The completed whitepaper will later be submitted to an international peer-reviewed journal, while the abstract has already been made available upon request.
By: Jacob Aggrey
News
NuGhana Expat Center to launch ‘AfroTango Platform’ to support diasporans in Ghana and Africa — Nana Kofi Opoku-Agyemang
The Executive Director of the NuGhana International Expat Center, Nana Kofi Opoku-Agyemang, has disclosed that the organisation is preparing to launch the “AfroTango Platform” to support diasporans with integration in Ghana and across Africa.
According to him, the platform is intended to help diasporans navigate African systems, which many often find difficult to understand after relocating from Western countries.
“The AfroTango Platform will provide a structured bridge, offering orientation, vetted service referrals, and a trusted community to help them integrate smoothly for business or relocation,” he said.
Mr. Opoku-Agyemang made the disclosure while speaking about a proposal submitted by the NuGhana International Expat Center to the government of President John Dramani Mahama for the establishment of a specialised multi-agency Diaspora Protection and Human Capital Task Force.
According to their statement, the proposal has been submitted to the President and shared with key institutions, including the Bureau of National Intelligence (BNI), the Ministry of the Interior, the Office of National Security, the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Office of Diaspora Affairs, and the Black Star Experience Secretariat.
Mr. Opoku-Agyemang explained that the proposed task force would help protect diasporans and foreign nationals from organised fraud and exploitation while also helping the country benefit from their expertise, investments, and professional skills.
He noted that many diasporans relocating to Ghana often face challenges such as land disputes, business fraud, and difficulties finding trusted people to guide them through local systems.
President of the African Chamber of Content Producers (ACCP), Nana Dwomoh-Doyen Benjamin, who endorsed the proposal, described the initiative as timely and necessary.
According to him, the leadership of NuGhana understands the realities and expectations of diasporans because of their experience living in Western countries.
He appealed to the government to consider the proposal seriously, stating that it could help protect lives and investments while encouraging more diasporans to contribute to national development.
The statement identified key challenges facing diasporans, including organised land and business scams, the absence of a unified system to engage skilled professionals entering the country, and fears over investment security.
Some diasporans who spoke on condition of anonymity also welcomed the initiative and said a state-backed protection system would give them more confidence to relocate and invest in Ghana.
NuGhana said it has already built a human capital and risk database over the past four years to catalogue diasporans and foreign nationals according to their professions, skills, investment interests, and reported incidents.
The organisation added that it is ready to engage the President’s designated team to demonstrate its database and begin a pilot phase of the proposed framework.
By: Jacob Aggrey
