TOWARDS IMPROVED NUTRITION: THE ROLE OF FOOD HANDLING, DISTRIBUTION AND SAFETY IN GHANA. FRANCIS APPIAH, PhD Senior Lecturer, KNUST, Ghana

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1 7th Africa Day for Food & Nutrition Security Exhibition TOWARDS IMPROVED NUTRITION: THE ROLE OF FOOD HANDLING, DISTRIBUTION AND SAFETY IN GHANA FRANCIS APPIAH, PhD Senior Lecturer, KNUST, Ghana

2 What is Nutrition? Food Security: exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life (World Food Summit, 1996) Nutrition is the intake of food, considered in relation to the body s dietary needs (WHO, 2016). Poor nutrition can lead to reduced immunity, increased susceptibility to disease, impaired physical and mental development, and reduced productivity

3 Types of Nutrition Undernourishment/food deprivation : dietary energy consumption is less than a pre-determined threshold. Good/Adequate nutrition: dietary energy consumption is equal to pre-determined threshold. Over nutrition: dietary energy consumption is more than a pre-determined threshold.

4 A well-fed world?

5 Food Supply Chain Actors Contributing to food security?

6 Ghana s Nutritional profile Noncommunicable diseases have replaced communicable diseases as the most common causes of premature death worldwide An estimated 80% of this burden occurs in low- or middle-income countries, and 25% is in people younger than 60 years (Couser et al., 2011). Major causes of death changing from communicable diseases to a combination of communicable and chronic non-communicable diseases (de-graftaikins et al., 2012)

7 Ghana s Nutritional profile Ghana has persistently high rates of undernutrition despite advances in economic growth and improvement in health indicators. 8 in 10 children under 5 years of age and 3 in 10 women suffer some form of undernutrition, including stunting; wasting; and deficiencies in iron, iodine, and vitamin A. 3 in 10 children are permanently stunted. 7 in 10 children suffer from vitamin A deficiency International Food Policy Research Institute (2015)

8 Some Progress Made Though Nutrition Report on Ghana 2015.pdf

9 Factors implicated in chronic diseases Urbanization ageing populations globalization weak health systems changing lifestyles (including poor diets)

10 Effects of Undernutrition Undernutrition has long-term effects. In young children, undernutrition predisposes them to increased infection and impaired physical growth, mental development and death. More likely to die of illnesses, such as malaria, diarrhoea, and pneumonia, and from complications from HIV.

11 Ghana s Nutritional profile 8 in 10 children under 5 are anaemic 7 in 10 pregnant women are anaemic 1 in 12 Ghanaian children dies before his or her 5th birthday. According to GhanaVibe (2013), Madam Rushnan Murtaza, Deputy Country Director of UNICEF, disclosed that out of every one million children born in Ghana, 82,000 of them die before their 5th birthday. About half of these deaths are associated with undernutrition. 1 in 5 maternal deaths during pregnancy and child birth is related to iron deficiency anaemia.

12 Effects of Undernutrition Mothers who suffer from undernutrition are likely to give birth to low-birth-weight babies, which can lead to an increased risk of inhibited growth and development. Female low-birth-weight babies are more likely to suffer from undernutrition when they become pregnant. This can contribute to the cycle of intergenerational malnutrition and its related problems.

13 Ghana s Nutritional profile Undernourishment (%): data for 1991, 2000, 2010, 2015 Reduced from about 47% to 7% Available calories from nonstaples (%): data for 1991, 2000, 2009, 2012 has been fairly stable from 32% and 35% Availability of fruits and vegetables(grams): data for 1990, 2000, 2010, 2011 has increased from 221 to 581

14 Ghana s Nutritional profile National policy on Vitamin A, Iron and Iodine fortification Vitamin A supplementation

15 IMPROVE INTAKE OF HEALTHY FOODS? PRODUCE DISTRIBUTE CONSUME

16 What are the constraints to production, distribution and consumption of vegetables?

17 CHALLENGES DURING PRODUCTION Access to land Poor Farming practices including low level technology Ageing Farmers Lack of ready markets Erratic rainfall/absence of irrigation systems High cost of input Disease and Pest Infestation

18 HANDLING?

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27 Current issues in distribution and storage Incident in China Lack of organised vegetable market Cheap farm gate price Postharvest losses during marketing (Poor varieties) Poor road networks Absence of cold chain management during distribution Poor marketing practices (Sorting, Grading and Display methods) Absence of storage facilities Market curtails Market Queens

28 CHALLENGES WITH CONSUMPTION OF FRUITS AND VEGETABLES Concerns with Consumption of Fruits and Vegetables Poor handling practices along the entire value chain Sanitary and Phytosanitary concerns High cost of vegetables Seasonality Pesticide and Chemical Residue Absence of organised vegetable market

29 Bottlenecks in the Vegetable Distribution Networks Poor road networks Absence of cold chain management during distribution Poor marketing practices (Sorting, Grading and Display methods) Market curtails Market Queens

30 FOOD SAFETY Sanitary and Phytosanitary Issues Abuse of Agro-chemicals Poor quality water for precooling of vegetables E.g. Waakye China: repackaging 276 tonnes of expired Fonterra milk powder produced in New Zealand (South China Morning Post, 2016)

31 Adopt a comprehensive national nutrition policy. Integrate nutrition into implementation plans at all levels of government. Commit additional resources within the health sector to scale up implementation of proven nutrition interventions throughout the country. Improve human resource capacity for nutrition to ensure that nutrition services can be carried out at scale.

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33 Reference A de-graft Aikins, Addo, J and Agyemang, C. ; Ghana's Burden of Chronic Non- Communicable Diseases: Future Directions in Research, Practice and Policy, Ghana Med J Nelson,F, Nyarko, KM, and Binka, FN; Prevalence of Risk Factors for Non- Communicable Diseases for New Patients Reporting to Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Ghana Med J Mar; 49(1):