Building evidence for policy and program action for nutrition in Ghana PDF Download

Author: Aberman, Noora-Lisa
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 6

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Book Description
This brief provides an overview of existing literature on nutrition in Ghana, summarizing the issues covered by existing evidence and identifying remaining evidence gaps. It also describes promising new research initiatives underway to further build the evidence base for nutrition action in Ghana.

Author: Mara van den Bold
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
ISBN:
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 80

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Book Description
Many development programs that aim to alleviate poverty and improve investments in human capital consider women’s empowerment a key pathway by which to achieve impact and often target women as their main beneficiaries. Despite this, women’s empowerment dimensions are often not rigorously measured and are at times merely assumed. This paper starts by reflecting on the concept and measurement of women’s empowerment and then reviews some of the structural interventions that aim to influence underlying gender norms in society and eradicate gender discrimination. It then proceeds to review the evidence of the impact of three types of interventions—cash transfer programs, agricultural interventions, and microfinance programs—on women’s empowerment, nutrition, or both. Qualitative evidence on conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs generally points to positive impacts on women’s empowerment, although quantitative research findings are more heterogenous. CCT programs produce mixed results on long-term nutritional status, and very limited evidence exists of their impacts on micronutrient status. The little evidence available on unconditional cash transters (UCT) indicates mixed impacts on women’s empowerment and positive impacts on nutrition; however, recent reviews comparing CCT and UCT programs have found little difference in terms of their effects on stunting and they have found that conditionality is less important than other factors, such as access to healthcare and child age and sex. Evidence of cash transfer program impacts depending on the gender of the transfer recipient or on the conditionality is also mixed, although CCTs with non-health conditionalities seem to have negative impacts on nutritional status. The impacts of programs based on the gender of the transfer recipient show mixed results, but almost no experimental evidence exists of testing gender-differentiated impacts of a single program. Agricultural interventions—specifically home gardening and dairy projects—show mixed impacts on women’s empowerment measures such as time, workload, and control over income; but they demonstrate very little impact on nutrition. Implementation modalities are shown to determine differential impacts in terms of empowerment and nutrition outcomes. With regard to the impact of microfinance on women’s empowerment, evidence is also mixed, although more recent reviews do not find any impact on women’s empowerment. The impact of microfinance on nutritional status is mixed, with no evidence of impact on micronutrient status. Across all three types of programs (cash transfer programs, agricultural interventions, and microfinance programs), very little evidence exists on pathways of impact, and evidence is often biased toward a particular region. The paper ends with a discussion of the findings and remaining evidence gaps and an outline of recommendations for research.

Author: Asante, Felix A.
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 12

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Book Description
Like other countries in the sub-region particularly West African economies, Ghana is grappling with multiple burdens of malnutrition which is accompanied by climate change that influence food production and consumption trends, and thereby leading to undernutrition and affecting overall development. In addition, growing incomes, accelerated urbanization, and expanding middle classes are also causing significant changes in consumer behavior and nutritional choices, necessitating both public and private expenditures for better food market integration. While food insecurity, and undernutrition (e.g. stunting, micronutrient deficiencies) persist, obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases are rising rapidly. General nutrition situation and identification of the highest priority nutrition problems. Various estimates of nutritional status of Ghanaian children under aged 5 years show that 19% were stunted, 5% were wasted, and 11% were underweight. In 2018, the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) showed nearly similar rates of stunting (18%), wasting (7%) and underweight (13%), suggesting that stunting prevalence improved only marginally during the last 5-6 years, whereas child wasting and underweight worsened during the period. Other significant problems of undernutrition in Ghana include a high prevalence anemia in children 6-59 months (55%), adolescent girls (48%) and women of reproductive age (42%). From the foregoing, the high priority nutrition challenges in Ghana, include “stunting and wasting in children under 5 years of age; anemia in children 6-59 months of age, adolescent girls, and women of reproductive age; but also, overweight and obesity in school-age children and younger adolescents; and overweight and obesity in women of reproductive age (15-49 y of age). Report of the Demographic and Health Surveys show a significant rising trend in adult obesity – from 10% in 1993 to 40% in 2015 (GSS et al., 2015). Also, the Ghanaian food environments (particularly in the urban areas) is currently characterized by cheap highly-processed foods, with nutrient-dense foods such fruits and vegetables lacking in meals because it is unaffordable (Laar, 2021).

Author: Yosef, Sivan
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
ISBN: 0896299902
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 8

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Book Description
In recent years, the world has seen unprecedented attention and political commitment to addressing malnutrition. Milestones such as the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement, the Lancet Maternal and Child Nutrition Series, and the Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2) have marked the rapid rise of nutrition on the global policy and research agenda. These developments reverse years of relative neglect for nutrition. Undernutrition is a global challenge with huge social and economic costs. It kills millions of young children annually, stunts growth, erodes child development, reduces the amount of schooling children attain, and increases the likelihood of their being poor as adults, if they survive. Stunting persists through a lifetime and beyond—underweight mothers are more likely to give birth to underweight children, perpetuating undernutrition across generations. Undernutrition reduces global gross domestic product by US$1.4–$2.1 trillion a year—the size of the total economy of Africa south of the Sahara.

Author: Dawit Mekonnen
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description

Author: de-Graft Aikins
Publisher: African Books Collective
ISBN: 9988647301
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 175

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Book Description
Chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as hypertension, stroke, diabetes and cancers, are major causes of disability and death in Ghana. NCDs are not only public health problems. They are also developmental problems, because the rising prevalence of long-term chronic conditions has major social and financial implications for affected individuals, families, healthcare providers and the government. This University of Ghana Readers volume from the Regional Institute for Population Studies presents social and medical science research on Ghanas NCD burden. The body of multidisciplinary research spans the last fifty years and offers important insights on NCD prevalence and experience as well as cultural, health systems and policy responses. This volume will be an essential resource for researchers and students in the health sciences, healthcare providers, health policymakers, and lay individuals with an interest in Ghanas contemporary public health challenges.

Author: Mary Kay Gugerty
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199366101
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 313

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Book Description
The social sector provides services to a wide range of people throughout the world with the aim of creating social value. While doing good is great, doing it well is even better. These organizations, whether nonprofit, for-profit, or public, increasingly need to demonstrate that their efforts are making a positive impact on the world, especially as competition for funding and other scarce resources increases. This heightened focus on impact is positive: learning whether we are making a difference enhances our ability to address pressing social problems effectively and is critical to wise stewardship of resources. Yet demonstrating efficacy remains a big hurdle for most organizations. The Goldilocks Challenge provides a parsimonious framework for measuring the strategies and impact of social sector organizations. A good data strategy starts first with a sound theory of change that helps organizations decide what elements they should monitor and measure. With a theory of change providing solid underpinning, the Goldilocks framework then puts forward four key principles, the CART principles: Credible data that are high quality and analyzed appropriately, Actionable data will actually influence future decisions; Responsible data create more benefits than costs; and Transportable data build knowledge that can be used in the future and by others. Mary Kay Gugerty and Dean Karlan combine their extensive experience working with nonprofits, for-profits and government with their understanding of measuring effectiveness in this insightful guide to thinking about and implementing evidence-based change. This book is an invaluable asset for nonprofit, social enterprise and government leaders, managers, and funders-including anyone considering making a charitable contribution to a nonprofit-to ensure that these organizations get it "just right" by knowing what data to collect, how to collect it, how it can be analyzed, and drawing implications from the analysis. Everyone who wants to make positive change should focus on the top priority: using data to learn, innovate, and improve program implementation over time. Gugerty and Karlan show how.

Author: Hettie Carina Schönfeldt
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
ISBN: 2832548830
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 195

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Book Description
Africa is confronted with the triple burden of malnutrition; it is also faced with the triple challenges of poverty, inequality and unemployment. In many African countries, large proportions of the population rely on agriculture not only for their food - but also for their livelihoods. A transformed agricultural and food system is thus a necessary condition for addressing this double-triple challenge. Additionally, post harvest and food waste and losses reduce the availability of sufficient quantities of safe, edible and preferable foods. At least one third of food produced at farm level is lost due to inappropriate storage, infrastructure and agro-processing technologies in developing countries; and one third of food purchased is wasted at household and retail level.

Author: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org.
ISBN: 9251349207
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 74

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Book Description
Humankind is facing a perfect storm of climate change, biodiversity loss, and multiple forms of malnutrition (stunting, wasting, micronutrient deficiencies, and obesity) coexisting in the same country, community, household, and even individual. Challenges from each of these areas are well known and recognized, but what seems to be missing in many development and policy circles is a recognition that food is at the centre of all three of these issues. This paper identifies entry points within agri-food systems to improve biodiversity and diets, two levers that can be used to enhance nutrition and optimize environmental sustainability while ensuring social equity, especially of the most vulnerable people. It also presents recommendations for concrete actions by key stakeholders – governments, academia, civil society, private sector, and development partners –to build resilient, inclusive, and sustainable agri-food systems.

Author: Aurino, Elisabetta
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 43

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Book Description
There is very limited experimental evidence of the impact of large-scale, government-led school meals programs on child educational achievements in Sub-Saharan Africa. We address this gap by reporting treatment effects from a nationwide randomized trial of the Government of Ghana’s school feeding program (GSFP) on children’s math and literacy, cognition (problem-solving ability and working memory), and composite scores of overall attainments. Based on the government’s plans to re-target and scale up the GSFP, food insecure schools and related communities across the country were randomly assigned to school feeding. After two years of implementation, program availability led to moderate increases in test scores for the average pupil in school catchment areas, ranging between 0.12 and 0.16 standard deviations. Analysis focusing on per-protocol population subgroups unveiled substantial heterogeneity: school feeding led to remarkable learning and cognitive gains for girls, poorest children, and children from the northern regions. Program effects were at least twice as large as for the average child. Increases in enrolment, grade attainment, and shifts in time use toward schooling time constituted potential mechanisms for impact. We conclude the program combined social protection with equitable human capital accumulation, thus contributing to the imperative of “learning for all” set in the Sustainable Development Goals.