Improving diets in rural Ghana

Improving diets in rural Ghana PDF

Author: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org.

Published: 2021-06-28

Total Pages: 60

ISBN-13: 9251345627

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This publication presents an in-depth analysis of the food system in Ghana with the dual purpose of providing an overview of the current situation, and identifying opportunities for leveraging the role of small and medium-sized enterprises for nutrition-sensitive food systems. The data collected and the results of the analysis enhance the understanding of some of the challenges that, in the Ghanaian context, contribute to determining diet-related issues; more importantly, the analysis identifies opportunities and entry points for improving diets by overcoming some of the challenges faced by small and medium-sized enterprises. The information provided could be of support not only for further analyses, but also for planning interventions and designing policies to improve nutrition in Ghana and in other contexts.

Food and nutrition security in transforming Ghana: A descriptive analysis of national trends and regional patterns

Food and nutrition security in transforming Ghana: A descriptive analysis of national trends and regional patterns PDF

Author: Van Asselt, Joanna

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2017-06-16

Total Pages: 56

ISBN-13:

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In recent decades, Ghana has experienced high economic growth and transformation, which contributed to the nation achieving the Millennium Development Goal targets on reducing extreme poverty and hunger. Against this background and in view of achieving the food and nutrition security targets of the Sustainable Development Goals, Ghana started a process of reviewing its food security and nutrition strategies and policies, including the overarching Zero Hunger Strategy. This discussion paper aims to contribute to this process by providing an update on the state of Ghana’s food and nutrition security. In addition to providing an overview of long-term historical trends at the national level, this analysis provides an overview of regional patterns of food and nutrition insecurity and recent changes across Ghana’s 10 administrative regions. Finally, the analysis identifies regional “hot spots” of food and nutrition insecurity. This paper confirms that Ghana has achieved substantial improvements in food and nutrition security overall, especially over the past decade. Nationwide, progress has been made in improving households’ economic access to food by reducing poverty and extreme poverty and in reducing chronic and acute child undernutrition. However, progress in reducing micronutrient malnutrition—particularly anemia and especially among young children—has been more modest. Across Ghana, large rural-urban gaps and regional differences—mainly between the north and the south—remain for most dimensions of food and nutrition security. In addition, Ghana is increasingly facing new nutrition-related public health problems that result from overnutrition and diets too rich in calories. Overweight and obesity among adults are rising rapidly in both urban and rural areas, leading to an increase in the risk of noncommunicable diseases. The rising double burden of malnutrition—that is, the coexistence of overnutrition and undernutrition, including micronutrient deficiencies—constitutes a challenge to public health and social protection policy. These new nutritional realities may make some existing food and nutrition security policies obsolete or even detrimental to nutrition security.

Brief review of Ghana’s food system transformation pathways

Brief review of Ghana’s food system transformation pathways PDF

Author: Asante, Felix A.

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2024-03-25

Total Pages: 22

ISBN-13:

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Global estimates show over half a billion people go hungry (FAO, 2020) and close to 2 billion people are either obese or overweight with another 2 billion of the world’s population suffering from micronutrient deficiencies (Micha et al., 2020, Fresco et al., 2017). Inarguably, the world faces significant malnutrition problem (including micro- and macro-nutrient deficiencies, obesity, and diet related non-communicable diseases). This is evident in a recent analysis pointing out that effort in achieving the Global Nutrition Targets is likely to be missed. The observed malnutrition threat is accompanied by climate change, which is influencing food production and consumption trends, and thereby leading to undernutrition and affecting overall development. In addition, there are growing incomes, accelerated urbanization, and expanding middle classes which are also causing significant changes in consumer behaviour and nutritional choices, necessitating both public and private expenditures for better food market integration. As a result, there is a pressing need to examine our food systems to guarantee food and nutrition security and to advance sustainable development. It is likely that the COVID-19 impact may further exacerbates the worsening food insecurity and nutritional status of the most vulnerable groups including women, children and adolescents, refugees and displaced people, smallholders in rural areas, and the urban poor.

Identifying priority value chains in Ghana

Identifying priority value chains in Ghana PDF

Author: Hartley, Faaiqa

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2018-02-17

Total Pages: 16

ISBN-13:

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This working paper identifies agricultural activities and value chains in Ghana whose expansion is most effective at generating economic growth, reducing national and rural poverty, creating jobs, and improving nutrition by diversifying diets. The Rural Investment and Policy Analysis (RIAPA) model of the Ghanaian economy is used to estimate how increasing production in different agricultural sectors leads to changes in national and household outcomes.1 RIAPA captures linkages between sectors and rural-urban economies, as well as changes throughout the agriculture-food system (AFS).

Investigating Caregivers’ Young Child Feeding Knowledge and Practices, Time Allocated to Child Care, and Pathways for Improving Children’s Diets Through Mass Media in Rural Ghana

Investigating Caregivers’ Young Child Feeding Knowledge and Practices, Time Allocated to Child Care, and Pathways for Improving Children’s Diets Through Mass Media in Rural Ghana PDF

Author: Yvonne Goh

Publisher:

Published: 2021

Total Pages:

ISBN-13:

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"Nutrition-sensitive agricultural (NSA) interventions use integrated approaches to improve rural nutrition. The Nutrition Links (NL) project was a multi-faceted nutrition-sensitive intervention in the Upper Manya Krobo District (UMKD) of Ghana. The NL project included an agriculture-education trial targeted at women with an infant 12 months and below, and a district-wide nutrition education intervention delivered through radio. This doctoral research included three studies within the context of the NL project. The dissertation objectives were to: (i) understand maternal time allocation to child care in the UMKD (ii) explore current caregiver’s infant and young child feeding knowledge and practices, and (iii) test the effect of a behaviour change campaign to improve infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices. The first study involved mother-child pairs in the NL agriculture-education trial. The intervention (NL-I) mothers received point-of-lay chickens, training on agriculture and home gardening, and nutrition education; the control (NL-C) mothers received standard government services. A subsample of mothers (74 NL-I and 69 NL-C) were observed at home by two field staff; one observed the mother and the other the child for 1 minute, every 5 minutes, for a total of 6 hours. The results showed that caregiving by the mother did not differ by treatment group (OR=1.07, 95% CI [0.89,1.28]). There was however a higher odds of any allocare (OR= 1.36, 95%CI [1.04, 1.79]) and, specifically, allocare by siblings who were less than 11 years old (25% vs 15%; p

Young Child Feeding Practices and Child Nutritional Status in Rural Ghana

Young Child Feeding Practices and Child Nutritional Status in Rural Ghana PDF

Author: Christina A. Nti

Publisher:

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13:

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A study was conducted in the Manya Krobo district of Ghana with the objective of studying young child feeding practices and child nutrition situation in the area. The study was a cross-sectional survey involving 400 mothers with young children between 0 and 18 months. A combination of methods, including structured interviews using questionnaire, dietary assessment and anthropometry, was used to collect data for the study. The data obtained were analysed using spss version 10 in Windows. Means and standard deviations were generated for continuous variables and frequency distribution for categorical variables. The results revealed that although breastfeeding rates were high (97%), complementary feeding practices were less than ideal with as many as 14% of the children being introduced to complementary foods below the age of 3 months. The nutritional quality of complementary foods were poor and the prevalence of stunting among the children was high (20%). For adequate complementary feeding and improved child nutrition in this population, nutrition education intervention programmes aimed at improving nutrient intake among young children, through improved diet diversity and increased use of local foods rich in iron and other nutrients, need to be undertaken.

Improving Diets and Nutrition

Improving Diets and Nutrition PDF

Author: Brian Thompson

Publisher: CABI

Published: 2014-04-28

Total Pages: 455

ISBN-13: 1780642997

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Nutrition-sensitive, food-based approaches towards hunger and malnutrition are effective, sustainable and long-term solutions. This book discusses the policy, strategic, methodological, technical and programmatic issues associated with such approaches, proposes “best practices” for the design, targeting, implementation and evaluation of specific nutrition-sensitive, food-based interventions and for improved methodologies for evaluating their efficacy and cost-effectiveness, and provides practical lessons for advancing nutrition-sensitive food-based approaches for improving nutrition at policy and programme level.

The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2020

The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2020 PDF

Author: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org.

Published: 2020-07-01

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 925132901X

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Updates for many countries have made it possible to estimate hunger in the world with greater accuracy this year. In particular, newly accessible data enabled the revision of the entire series of undernourishment estimates for China back to 2000, resulting in a substantial downward shift of the series of the number of undernourished in the world. Nevertheless, the revision confirms the trend reported in past editions: the number of people affected by hunger globally has been slowly on the rise since 2014. The report also shows that the burden of malnutrition in all its forms continues to be a challenge. There has been some progress for child stunting, low birthweight and exclusive breastfeeding, but at a pace that is still too slow. Childhood overweight is not improving and adult obesity is on the rise in all regions. The report complements the usual assessment of food security and nutrition with projections of what the world may look like in 2030, if trends of the last decade continue. Projections show that the world is not on track to achieve Zero Hunger by 2030 and, despite some progress, most indicators are also not on track to meet global nutrition targets. The food security and nutritional status of the most vulnerable population groups is likely to deteriorate further due to the health and socio economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The report puts a spotlight on diet quality as a critical link between food security and nutrition. Meeting SDG 2 targets will only be possible if people have enough food to eat and if what they are eating is nutritious and affordable. The report also introduces new analysis of the cost and affordability of healthy diets around the world, by region and in different development contexts. It presents valuations of the health and climate-change costs associated with current food consumption patterns, as well as the potential cost savings if food consumption patterns were to shift towards healthy diets that include sustainability considerations. The report then concludes with a discussion of the policies and strategies to transform food systems to ensure affordable healthy diets, as part of the required efforts to end both hunger and all forms of malnutrition.