The Vice President, Prof. Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, has called for stronger multisectoral action and sustained investment to tackle malnutrition, stressing that the challenge requires coordinated responses across health, education, agriculture, social protection and the private sector.

She said malnutrition remains one of the most persistent challenges to human development, with consequences that can extend from childhood into adulthood and pregnancy, affecting the health of mothers and children and potentially carrying across generations.

“𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬, 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐬𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬,” 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝.

Prof. Opoku-Agyemang made the call at the opening of the 7th Global Conference of the Micronutrient Forum in Accra, being held under the theme, “Nutrition at the Frontiers of a Changing Environment.”

She noted that nutrition outcomes are influenced by several interconnected factors, including what families can afford, what children consume at school and their access to health services. She therefore underscored the need to integrate nutrition into primary healthcare and other essential services.

“There is therefore an opportunity for us to embed nutrition care into prevention, maternal care, child care, immunisation and community-level care,” she said.

The Vice President reaffirmed Ghana’s commitment to increasing financing for essential nutrition services and strengthening expenditure tracking across government. She stressed that domestic financing and international cooperation must complement each other to build sustainable nutrition systems.

Citing the Ghana School Feeding Programme, which she said reaches more than 4.5 million children, Prof. Opoku-Agyemang emphasised that sustained progress would require national action, international cooperation, science and innovation, as well as greater investment in long-term systems rather than short-term interventions.

The Executive Director of the Micronutrient Forum, Saskia Osendarp, commended Ghana for its leadership in nutrition and said the conference provides an important platform for stakeholders across sectors to share evidence, strengthen collaboration and inform nutrition policies and programmes.

The Acting Regional Director of AGRA, Sunil Dahiya, also highlighted the growing impact of climate change on nutrition and food systems. He called for greater investment in climate-resilient and nutritious seeds, improved food storage and processing, more efficient regional trade and innovative financing.

The four-day conference, which runs from September 28 to October 1, brings together policymakers, researchers, development partners, private-sector actors and other stakeholders to share evidence and advance coordinated action to address micronutrient malnutrition amid changing environmental, economic and food-system conditions.

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NDPC-PR UNIT