Almost half of all deaths for children under 5 are attributable to malnutrition — this is why improving nutrition is imperative to achieving USAID’s global maternal and child survival goals. Climate change, conflict, and the lasting impacts of COVID-19 have all exacerbated rates of global malnutrition and contributed to the global food security and hunger crisis.
But with the right tools, policies, government inputs, and community support, malnutrition is largely preventable.
In Ghana, progress to reduce malnutrition has improved, but almost 7 percent of children under 5 are still affected by wasting — the deadliest form of malnutrition. **The Government of Ghana is committed to addressing nutrition challenges across the country. **USAID partners with the Ghana Health Service and the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development to improve facility-based and community nutrition services, with a focus on northern Ghana.
Ghana, like many countries, faces several challenges when it comes to prevention and treatment of malnutrition, including a lack of regular opportunities to maintain and improve technical skills for health care workers and a lack of operational resources for community health outreach. These challenges are even more dire in resource poor northern Ghana, where under-5 malnutrition and severe anemia are common, and child mortality is higher than the rest of the country.
USAID teamed up with the Ghana Health Service’s primary health care clinics to train over 700 health workers in 17 districts in northern Ghana on how to manage and prevent malnutrition. By equipping health providers with this knowledge, they are now able to integrate and layer nutrition services into the delivery of a comprehensive set of primary health care services focused on the holistic needs of the child.
At the Yikpabongo Health Center in northern Ghana, USAID trained health workers on the prevention of anemia, proper feeding practices for infants and children, and screening and treatment for malnutrition.
“For several months, we were not able to identify and manage cases of acute malnutrition in children,” said Wedam Caesar Avugu, a community health nurse at the Yikpabongo Health Center.
He and colleagues said they did not have access to resources, like fuel and motorbikes, to conduct outreach visits to more distant communities to identify acute malnutrition cases and provide critical services, such as growth monitoring and skilled breastfeeding counseling.
With USAID support for training and transportation resources, Ghanaian health workers screened nearly 300 children for malnutrition across four districts in just two months. These health workers can now conduct additional home visits to follow up with children who are being treated for malnutrition, and they can provide additional nutrition services to pregnant and lactating women to further prevent childhood malnutrition.
In the northern Ghana community of Tuvuu, caregivers have seen healthy gains in their children after receiving recommendations from the USAID-trained health workers to use local ingredients to prepare more nutritious meals.
A young boy’s aunt, Shitu Iddrisu, said, “I am seeing changes in Fadlan, he is gaining weight day by day…when the nurse visits us, he tells us to use bean leaves, kenaf leaves, baobab leaves, dawada, soybeans, and other locally available ingredients to prepare nutritious food for the child. I thank the nurse for visiting us from time to time to check on Fadlan and advise us on what to do to make my nephew grow well.”
Sadia Alhassan, a mother to another child in Tuvuu, who received support from USAID-trained health care workers for nutrition, said:
“I now know the local ingredients that I need to add to the child’s food and fruits to help her recover from malnutrition. I add turkey berries, bean seeds, bean leaves, and jute leaves to the meat and fish to prepare stews and soups for the child. I can see that she is growing well now.”
Resilient primary health care systems, anchored by a well-trained and well-equipped health workforce, can improve life expectancy, increase health equity, and provide communities with the opportunity to live longer, healthier lives.
USAID’s investments enabled the Ghanaian health system to reach over 185,000 children under two years with community based nutrition services and over 68,000 pregnant women with nutrition specific interventions in just one year across 17 districts in northern Ghana.
For over 60 years, USAID has been at the forefront of advancing nutrition for mothers, children, and families around the world. USAID’s work to support health workers to address malnutrition in Ghana is just one example of the Agency’s commitment to continuous learning and adaptation in response to ever-evolving nutrition needs.
By integrating malnutrition screening and treatment into comprehensive primary health care, a range of essential health services is effectively and efficiently delivered — ultimately saving countless lives and, importantly, meeting patients where they are.
Source: US Agency for International Development