A three-year initiative called Shaping Food Environments in Transitioning Economies for sustainable and healthy diets (FETE) project has commenced processes to take stock of challenges and make recommendations for improved nutrition among urban poor residents in Accra.
Malnutrition is described as an imbalance between the nutrients one’s body needs to function and the nutrients it gets.
Dr Rose Omari, the Principal Investigator of FETE, who was speaking at the opening of a stakeholder’s workshop, said State and non-State actors had been implementing initiatives on nutrition, but challenges in the sector lingered hence the need to identify the root causes and make recommendations.
The Science and Technology Policy Research Institute, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR-STEPRI) and partners from Tanzania, South Africa, Malaysia and Germany are implementing the project.
South Shiashie, Teshie Old Town, New Fadama, Kotobabi, Nungua-Zongo, Agbogbloshie, Osu Alata, Glefe and Nima will benefit from the project.
The workshop sought to establish a network of stakeholders, understand their roles and expectations, and foster a common understanding of the challenges and opportunities.
Dr Omari stated that the project would explore opportunities and develop solutions to shape the food environments to drive nutritious food consumption for better health outcomes.
She noted that increased consumption of diets high in sugar, salt, fat, refined starch-based foods had contributed to the increasing burden of obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, strokes, cardiovascular diseases and cancer, which demand urgent attention.
D Omari, who is also a Deputy Director, CSIR-STEPRI, said it was critical to examine which interventions were yielding the desired outcomes and adapt and scale them out to other areas both at the national and global levels.
Professor Marian D. Quain, Deputy Director-General, CSIR, raised concerns about the influx of fussy drinks on the market and called for the need to process local fruits into juices, saying “I will rather buy bananas or orange rather than apples”.
She suggested that the collection of a good database on nutritional issues would form a good basis to inform policy makers about the effect on the health system, productivity and economy to trigger policy action.
Dr Geoffrey Asalu, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Health Allied Sciences, said the project approach would conduct dietary assessments, surveys, participatory geographic information system and focus group discussions to characterise the personal and external domains of food environments.
GNA
KK
30 April 24
