The Head of the Department of Nutrition and Food Science, Professor Emmanuel Afoakwa, delivering a welcome address
The Department of Nutrition and Food Science of the University of Ghana has held a Validation and Consensus Building workshop for the Pathways to Anemia Prevention Study.
The project, which is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is a collaboration between the Department, the University of Michigan and Innovations for Poverty Action.
Dr. Esi Colecraft of the Department of Nutrition and Food Science giving an overview of the workshop
According to Dr. Esi Colecraft, the local lead Principal Investigator and lecturer at the Department of Nutrition and Food Science, the study is a preliminary study aimed at understanding the context specific causal pathways to anemia among women of reproductive age in the regions with the highest burden of anemia in Ghana, namely Central, Volta, and Northern regions
She said the workshop was expected to generate stakeholder feedback on the findings of the data collected over the past ten months and stimulate inter-sectoral interactions to identify appropriate solutions to addressing the high burden of anemia among Ghanaian women.
Mrs. Afua Yamfo, delivering a speech on behalf of the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection
Speaking on behalf of the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Mrs. Afua Yamfo, mentioned that the Ministry’s interventions which aimed directly at preventing malnutrition and anemia among pregnant women and their young children was the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) 1000. She added that the LEAP 1000 provides income support to women from conception till when the child is about two and half years old. She commended the University of Ghana and her partners for selecting women for this research and hoped that the workshop would lead to pragmatic strategies to reduce the burden of anemia on women and children across the country.
Mrs. Victoria Tsekpor, a representative from the Women in Agriculture Development (WIAD) addressing participants
Mrs. Victoria Tsekpor, a representative from the Women in Agriculture Development (WIAD), of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and the chairperson for the workshop, stated that under WIAD, programmes such as Nutrition and Education in relation to food production, food safety, gender, livelihood and home management have contributed to nutrition outcomes in Ghana. She added that WIAD’s participation in the workshop would help modify and improve their programmes to yield more successes.
Earlier, in his welcome address, the Head of the Department of Nutrition and Food Science, Professor Emmanuel Afoakwa, the department over the years had been actively involved in a number of projects such as Pressure Among Adults with Mild-To-Moderate Hypertension in Asesewa; UG-INFA-AJINOMOTO Joint Complementary Foods Development Project, among others that were geared towards addressing various nutrition and health related problems in Ghana and worldwide.
Group picture of participants at the workshop
