Advocates say sustainable financing needed to address malnutrition in Ghana

The need to look for sustainable financing to address maternal and child nutrition took centre stage at a meeting to tackle the morbidity and mortality cases associated with malnutrition among vulnerable groups in the country.

A call was also made for a proactive approach and strong leadership to ensure malnutrition and its related health consequences are tackled decisively.

The breakfast meeting was held for a group of parliamentarians in Accra and attended by others drawn from civil society groups and government agencies.

It was aimed at getting their support as part of efforts to strengthen investment and coordination for maternal and child nutrition.

The meeting was organized by Women, Media and Change (WOMEC) as part of a project, dubbed “Nourish Ghana” and funded by the Eleanor Crook Foundation, a global leader in evidence-driven nutrition advocacy.

Mr. Nii Odoi Odotei, Principal Planning Analyst at the National Development Planning, who spoke at the event, noted that malnutrition in Ghana remains a major challenge together with related issues such as persistent stunting, anemia, micronutrient deficiencies, and rising obesity and non-communicable diseases.

He said structural drivers such as food price inflation, climate shocks, unhealthy food environments and limited access to nutrient-rich foods are part of the challenges.

Adding that “malnutrition costs national economies in Africa between 3 percent and 16 percent of gross domestic product annually.”

He touched on the Nutrition for Growth (N4G) Summits, which are high-level global pledging events designed to accelerate progress on ending malnutrition and improving human health.

The recent summit was held in Paris last year and was attended by representatives from Ghana.

Mr. Odotei said the N4G summits unite governments, civil society, the private sector, and researchers to secure bold political and financial commitments.

These summits focus on several core pillars such as tracking global investments in nutrition through established frameworks, transitioning toward sustainable, climate-resilient diets and integrating nutrition into public health and crisis resilience programming.

According to him, Ghana’s N4G commitments has been integrated into the 2026-2029 Medium-Term National Development Policy Framework and 2025-2029 Coordinated Programme of Economic and Social Development Policies.

He said the global development financing environment has undergone some changes and shrunk since 2025, due to the USAID pull out.

This, he noted “will potentially impact surveys such as the Ghana Demographic and Health Survey, affecting our ability to track progress.”

“Investing in nutrition is catalytic and not only has huge returns (every dollar results in 23 dollars), it also reduces losses to GDP caused by poor education, health and productivity outcomes”, he added.

Mr. Odotei pointed out that government needs to own the agenda and find innovative ways to finance nutrition interventions.  

Noting that this could include adding essential nutrition commodities to the essential medicines list under NHIA, a percentage of the District Assemblies Common Fund, exempting all costs at health facilities for nutrition services, or linking the Ghana Medical Trust Fund to provide funding for some nutrition interventions.

Dr. Olivia Timpo, Deputy Director of Nutrition at the Ghana Health Service, made a case for  Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) and Multiple Micronutrient Supplements (MMS).

Saying these are not “extra” commodities but are essential health investments for survival, safe pregnancy and human capital.

According to her, MMS for instance strengthens routine antenatal care by addressing multiple pregnancy micronutrient needs in one tablet and this is because pregnancy increases demand for iron, folate, iodine, zinc, vitamin A, B12 and other micronutrients.

While RUTF also supports recovery for children with severe acute malnutrition among others.

Dr. Timpo noted that RUTF is still highly dependent on project and partner financing rather than predictable NHIS or domestic budget lines.

She called for sustainable financing to blend NHIS integration with protected commodity financing and supply-chain accountability.

She touched on parliamentary leadership and urged MPs to act by protecting the fiscal space created through the National Health Insurance Levy (NHIL) uncapping for essential health priorities.

Dr. Timpo tasked the MPs to form a cross-party MP champions group to promote maternal and child nutrition.

Mr. Jerry Sam, Technical Lead at WOMEC, said the Nourish Ghana project being implemented by WOMEC advocates for stronger leadership and national policy action on nutrition, to ensure that decision-makers prioritise investments in high-impact interventions to combat malnutrition.

“Children die from malnutrition that we know how to treat. Women enter motherhood depleted of micronutrients we know how to replace. Behind every statistic is a household making impossible choices.”

He said malnutrition costs Ghana billions in lost human capital through stunted cognitive development, reduced school performance, lower lifetime earnings, and avoidable health system burden.

“Ghana has the policies, the workforce, and the platforms. The recently uncapped NHIS levy creates new fiscal space. The question is no longer whether we can act, but whether we will,” Mr. Sam noted.

Prof. Titus Beyuo MP and member of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Health, speaking on behalf of his colleagues who took part in the meeting, pledged their support to champion efforts to address malnutrition and the financing challenges associated with it.  

Source: Ghana Business News