Siapha Kamara (middle) flanked by Majid Michel and an official of One.org at the conference
SIAPHA KAMARA, chief executive director of Send West Africa, has called on presidential candidates in this year’s polls to commit to ending malnutrition in Ghana.
At a press conference recently in Accra, Mr Kamara said although Ghana had done well in reducing stunting from an all-high of 35 percent in 2003 to 19 percent in 2014, there was still much to be done.
“In 2015, 7 out of 10 children in Ghana suffered from vitamin A deficiency, and 7 out of 10 children under age 5 and 2 out of 5 women were anaemic.
“There is still lack of coherence on laws concerning food fortification, baby foods, salt iodization and other food standards. Some need to be amended or legislative instruments developed to assist with the smooth implementation of the National Nutrition Policy (2013 – 2017) and National Nutrition Scale-up Plan.”
He appealed to political leaders to increase investments to treat and prevent malnutrition.
According to a recent Africa Union Cost of Hunger in Africa (COHA) study, Ghana’s economy is losing more than $2 billion per year to the impact of child malnutrition.
“With a 16-fold return on investment, tackling this silent killer is one of the best buys in development.
“Despite the higher dividend that is provided by investing in nutrition, we still observe the following in Ghana: regional disparities with stunting rates as high as 32 percent in the Northern Region, and 23 percent in the Upper West,” he stated.
He said through strategic interventions, this could change.
“We urge you to commit to accelerating the implementation of aggressive plans to combat malnutrition if elected as President of Ghana, as outlined in the ambitious Africa Union Malabo Nutrition Commitment to reduce stunting to 10 percent by 2025 and as stated in Goal 2 of the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),” he urged.
In 2014, poor nutrition accounted for the deaths of almost 3 million children under 5 years old. Even for those children who survive past the age of 5, chronic malnutrition permanently impairs their physical and cognitive development. This means they will never reach their full potential and can cost the economy of developing countries as much as 16 percent of gross domestic product each year.