Under-nutrition linked to school repetitions

The study, titled Cost of Hunger in Africa (Ghana edition); found that children who lacked needed food nutrients were frequent absentees, performed poorly in class and as such had a high probability of being made to repeat their classes.

“People affected by stunting face lifelong consequences starting in childhood such as frequent illness, poor school performance, having to repeat classes or dropping out altogether…” the report said.

According to the global food agency, about 37 percent of Ghana’s adult population faced ‘stunting’ as children due to inadequate food intake or the lack of nutrients in food consumed.

The WFP defines under nutrition “as the result of prolonged low levels of food intake and/or low absorption of food consumed (undernourishment). It is generally applied to energy (or protein and energy) deficiency, but it may also relate to vitamin and mineral deficiencies”.

Ghana has made enormous progress towards improving nutrition among its young citizens. The government introduced free feeding in public schools to induce enrolment and also provide nutritious meals for pupils.

The country has been successful in reducing the rate of stunting from 23 percent to 19 percent over the years. However, the UN body says more needs to be done to improve on the situation.

Among its many recommendations are “a statutory provision or benchmark that allows a certain percentage of the Assembly’s common fund to be spent on nutrition related programmes.”