Project launched to increase supply of nutritious foods
The German International Cooperation(GIZ), a German Federal Enterprise, has launched a two-year project aimed at increasing local supply to meet the demand of fortified nutritious foods for women in their reproductive age in Ghana.
Known as the “Affordable nutritious foods for women (ANF4W)”, the project is to develop the appropriate and affordable food samples based on the natural food sources ,fortified with relevant micro-nutrients.
The ANF4W is financed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), DSM Sight and Life, and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
At a ceremony to launch the project in Accra on Monday, the Vice Chairperson of the Scale Up Nutrition (SUN) Government Focal Point, Dr Edith Tetteh, said in 2010, the United Nations Secretary General set up the SUN to bridge the malnutrition gap
She said apart from women of reproductive age, emphasis was also on the first 1,000 days of a child (that is from conception to age two), and added that the initiative had come in handy and timely to improve the nutrition of women in their reproductive age.
She expressed worry about the high rate of malnutrition in the country despite all efforts made by governments, adding that stunting cases recorded in 1988 was 30 per cent while 28 per cent cases were recorded in 2008.
The Senior Planning Officer of Agricultural Policy at GIZ, Dr Ines Reinhard, said two to three prototypes of fortified foods would be developed and produced by local Ghanaian food processing industries.
In addition, she said a social marketing strategy would be implemented to increase the overall awareness of the fortified nutritious foods.
The World Health Organisation(WHO) has carried out a research to generate data for individual countries on (the extent of) vitamin A, iodine and iron deficiency among people in the member countries.
The recommendations that came out of the study, included the short-term supplementation, medium-term food fortification and long-term focus on balanced nutrition.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation has also recommended that countries with high malnutrition rates, consider fortifying food with iodine, iron and vitamin A and regulate fortification.
ANF4W is in line with the United Nations Scaling up Nutrition movement, which is to ensure successful and sustainable efforts to improve nutrition, were anchored at the national level, with national-level officials championing tailored efforts to address malnutrition.
