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Absence of proper nutrition  results in  poor cognitive and physical ability to work
Absence of proper nutrition results in poor cognitive and physical ability to work

Counting the cost of malnutrition in ghana

Ghana's lower middle income status is recognised by a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of US $1,600 which is an average of the wealth of all the upstream, mid and downstream oil companies, all the six telecommunication companies and the Independent Power Producers in Ghana, as well as all other business entities, most of which are foreign.

The bulk of this wealth which has catapulted us into the enviable space of middle-income status is not made-in-Ghana money and very little of it filters into the fabric of our society. I have often asked my economist friends why we do not use the Gross National Product which best describes what is happening locally to our economy, money generated and expended here in Ghana. At best, we can publish both and track the latter to see the rate of local improvement and impact of the economy on society.

 Although a middle-income country, we fail on all the essential social development indicators and we may probably be the only middle-income country where access to toilet facilities and sanitation is so shamefully poor. We cannot be part of an elite club and yet betray the fundamentals of human existence. It is, however, in the area of feeding the Ghanaian child that depresses me. It is for me Ghana's greatest challenge as it informs the quality of our human resources.

Effects of malnutrition 

 Malnutrition constitutes great social and societal ills to children who have no means of redress on their own. All scientific evidence points to the importance of food to the development of the child. A mother's nutritional status throughout her pregnancy is a key ingredient. In a country where 60 per cent of women in the reproductive age group are anaemic, a proxy of poor nutrition, most pregnancies start on a faulty basis. Throughout the nine months, the developing foetus can only feed on nutrients in the blood of the mother. The poorer the feed, the lesser the child’s nutrients. Culturally, for fear of a difficult birth from a large baby, we do not give pregnant mothers a lot of good food but wait till she has been delivered of a baby and then overfeed them to provide adequate milk. Now that we expect all of them to deliver under the care of a trained health professional, it should be possible to provide the pregnant woman with quality food which needs not be expensive. Quality balanced diet is not expensive food and expensive food is not always quality and balanced.

 Ghana is one of the worst 50 countries with many stunted children under five years from long-term poor feeding; the children are short for age. As rightly put, if you have stunted children then you will have a stunted economy. Nineteen per cent  of Ghanaian children under five years are stunted  and this has decreased slowly from as high as 40 per cent  about 30 years ago.

The evidence is incontrovertible that if by the first 1,000 days all nutritional deficits are not resolved, the effect on the child's learning or cognitive ability and physical ability to work becomes severely compromised. The malnourished child may be born too small, a low birth weight child and they are prone to premature deaths or repeated illnesses. The costs of the poor health and premature death has now been computed. In education, their poor performances are well known. They repeat classes, drop out of school early and fall well behind their peers in educational advances and are well represented in the group of manual workers. The diminished physical ability means their productivity as manual and non-manual workers is very poor.

 In a careful Cost of Hunger in Africa study launched recently in Ghana by the African Union Commission and Economic Commission of Africa, Ghana lost 6.4 per cent  of GDP or US$2.6 billion in 2012 from the effects of malnutrition. As if that was not enough, we are told that 5.5 million Ghanaian adults today were malnourished as children with all the disabilities referred to above, poor cognitive and physical ability to work. If 37.2 per cent  of adults cannot contribute significantly to Ghana's GDP, why will our economy not be stunted?

Absence of proper nutrition  results in  poor cognitive and physical ability to work

Resolving the problem

 Nothing is going on to help ameliorate this colossal problem. Nutrition is a serious developmental challenge and all must work together to resolve the problem. It had previously been seen as a health issue and led by the Nutritional Unit of the Ghana Health Service but progress was minimal and now as a multi-sectoral challenge, the National Development and Planning Commission, with the mandate to coordinate such cross-sector problems, has taken over. All district assemblies must be made to track the numbers of malnourished children and the effects of nutrition and must be one of the triggers for the evaluation of the district chief executive (DCE). We must be bold and save US$ 2.6 billion annually instead of squandering the 6.4 per cent GDP because of malnutrition. We must inculcate nutrition into the long-term development plan and that is being done.

We must all help feed every Ghanaian child. It may be seen as a parental problem but the effects are societal. The Child Malnutrition Foundation, established by the Gentle Giants, the importers of Vitamilk, has so far supported the Greater Accra Regional Health Directorate to lift over 1,000 children aged over one year in nine nutrition rehabilitation centres out of malnutrition. Providing weekly rations of 21 Vitamilk Champ (125 mls of soya milk), three times a day for six weeks, the weight increased averagely by 37.9   per cent  for boys and 33.7 per cent for girls in the third round of 511 children. The report on the third round will be launched soon. The foundation's work has been supported by the Ministries of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Trade and Finance and Ghana Revenue Authority, VAT and Customs in the clearance of the Vitamilk products from the Tema Port. Green Spot of Thailand, the manufacturers of Vitamilk, have also been helpful, donating some of the Vitamilk Champ for distribution. The vision of the foundation is a Ghana free of malnutrition.

 

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