Dr Juan Emmanuel Dewez, the Chief of Health and Nutrition, UNICEF Ghana, has emphasised the need to ensure the general well-being of children to secure their future development.
He said it was important for pregnant women to take the necessary precautions during pregnancy to enable them to have healthy babies.
Dr Dewez made these remarks at an engagement with the media, dubbed: “UNICEF Ghana Media Cafe”, organised by the Fund in Accra on Thursday.
The maiden monthly media engagement focused on the rights of the child in ensuring their general well-being while securing a better future.
The Fund said stunted growth decreased in Ghana from 19 per cent in 2014 to 17 per cent in 2022.
The percentage of infants aged zero to six months who received at least five out of eight food groups rose significantly from 24 percent in 2014 to 41 percent in 2022 while anaemia among adolescent girls ,15 to 19 years, declined from 48 percent to 43.8 within the same period.
UNICEF Ghana has contributed to improving the overall wellbeing of new-borns, children under five years, school age children, adolescents and women, using evidence-based health and nutrition interventions.
Dr Dewez said the Fund and the Government as well as other partners had supported Ghana’s health sector in improving coverage and access to essential health and nutrition services along with improving the quality of the services provided.
He, however, noted that despite the gains made, malnutrition remained a problem, with stunting growth affecting 17 percent of children under five, 12 percent underweight.
Also, there are gaps in care practices and access to quality and inclusive health and nutrition services that continued to impede the development of children, hence urgent steps needed to be taken to address the problems and secure their future.
Mr Osama Makkawi, UNICEF Ghana Representative, said it was necessary to get society informed to enable them to make the right decisions, hence the critical role of the media to help shape public discourse.
He said as Ghana made the first attempt in ratifying the Convention on the Right of the Child, it was necessary to have a cross-sectoral collaboration to address issues affecting children.
The media could play a major role in pushing an agenda that helped to achieve the desired results by the Government and partners, Mr Makkawi said.
“We need to plan together, we need to budget together and implement sectorally and be able to monitor activities to the benefit of children,” he stated.
