Koforidua-Ghana, April 27, GNA – The Eastern Regional Health Directorate of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) has selected 130 basic schools in 26 municipalities and districts to implement Nutritional Friendly School Initiative (NFSI) to promote a nutrition-sensitive environment in schools.
Dr Winfred Ofosu, the Eastern Regional Director of the GHS, said NFSI was a school-based health and nutrition programme adopted as a platform to implement a set of school-based health and nutrition activities.
He was speaking at a press briefing in Koforidua organized by the GHS in collaboration with the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the UNICEF on the Nutritional Friendly School Initiative.
In attendance were 10 reporters from various media houses, and some representatives from the GHS and the GES in the region.
Dr Ofosu explained that there had been a decline in malnutrition among children under five years over the years, but a notable increase among school children and adolescents.
“Ghana is confronted with the triple burden of malnutrition, overweight/obesity and micronutrient deficiencies, particularly among school children and adolescents,” he observed.
The contributive factors, Dr Ofosu noted, were poor dietary practices, including the intake of high sugar, high-fat diets, sweets, and other foods of poor value.
Additionally, skipping meals and physical inactivity both at school and home, he observed, were the major contributing factors to the current rising cases of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs).
“WHO estimates that 41 million deaths or over 71% of global deaths are due to NCDs. 80% of these NCDs related deaths are due to Cardiovascular Diseases, Cancers, Chronic Respiratory Diseases and Diabetes Mellitus”, he said.
He assured that implementing the NFSI would help, if not eliminate, reduce the increasing cases of malnutrition in school children and adolescents and reduce cases of NCDs.
Dr Ofosu said the NFSI rode on four pillars, including school health and nutrition guiding principles, safe school environment, school-based delivery of health services and skills-based health education.
The pillars, he stated, involved the various stakeholders consisting of the school authorities, parents, health workers and community members in ensuring that the NFSI was well implemented in schools.
He applauded the government for initiating and implementing the school feeding programme though there were some challenges which needed to be attended to.
He said school authorities should monitor caterers who provided school meals to serve learners with a four-star diet well covered to prevent flies from settling on it and mounted on neatly covered tables.
He advised parents against giving fizzy drinks and sugary foods to their children when they go to school.
“Children who look bloated do not mean they are healthy. Unfortunately, some parents think that making their children look bloated means they are healthy and that is false,” he said.
The GES, Dr Ofosu, suggested, “we must institute fruit and vegetable days at least one to three times a week to encourage the consumption of fruits and vegetables by students.”
Additionally, schools should ensure that physical education was well taught in class as indicated on the timetable since less than 30 percent of children meet the physical activity recommendations per week.
