Tema-Ghana, Oct. 16 – Dietician Ms. Ama Hienne Amoako of International Maritime Hospital (IMaH) has promoted the use of green leafy vegetables due to their high content of essential nutrients that can promote healthy growth and development.
She mentioned that pregnant women should eat more green leafy vegetables to aid in brain growth, such as kontomire and dandelion, since they are high in folate acid.
At the weekly “Your Health! Our Collective Responsibility!” session, the IMaH Dietician was presenting a project of the Ghana News Agency’s Tema Regional Office with the goal of enhancing health-related communication and offering a platform for the exchange of health information in order to improve health literacy and impact individual health decisions.
The Ghana News Agency’s Tema Regional Office developed the public health advocacy platform “Your Health! Our Collective Responsibility” in order to research the elements of four different health communication strategies: teaching, promoting, persuading, and informing.
Speaking on “Paediatric Nutrition,” Ms. Amoako said that consuming fruits high in vitamin A during pregnancy, such as oranges, pawpaws, sweet potatoes, and palm oil, helps both the mother and the unborn child maintain exceptional vision.
Furthermore, taking iron supplements during pregnancy promotes the growth of the foetus.
In order to provide a child with a balanced diet, she recommended pregnant women to select a meal from the four-star diet, which consists of basics, legumes and seed foods, fruits and vegetables, and animal sources.
“The four-star diet, when consumed, helps the body fight diseases and keeps the body fit” , she continued.
Ms. Amoako emphasised that during the gestational period, a doctor provides folic acid and iron supplements to prevent deficiencies in the developing or delivered baby.
According to her, every nutritional requirement that is provided in our meals is essential for the body’s development and immunity.
“Parents with newly born babies should bring them out for the early morning sun, which provides vitamin D and also aids in the identification of the child’s eyes if any changes occur,” she stated.
The regional manager of Ghana News Agency Tema, Mr. Francis Ameyibor, emphasised in his welcoming speech the importance of media and medical experts working together to provide holistic healthcare.
In order to prevent and promote a healthy lifestyle, he said that accurate health information delivery to the target population is essential.
Mr. Ameyibor continued by stating that “developing and deepening a working relationship between media practitioners and health professionals would eventually create a channel for the transmission of accurate health communication”.
