WFP TO ADDRESS MALNUTRITION (PAGE 3)

THE United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is to provide $3.4 million (US) under a special package to address malnutrition among the rural poor in the three northern regions.
A total of 215,000 people in Northern Ghana north have been targeted to benefit from the package, which would become operational in October this year.
Additionally, 20,000 schoolchildren out of the total number of the beneficiaries would be identified and selected to benefit from extra food rations.
The Executive Director of the WFP, Miss Josette Sheeran, made this known during an interaction with newsmen in Tamale as part of her tour of duty of the northern regions. The visit afforded her the opportunity to inspect some development projects undertaken by the WFP in the region.
She visited Gbumgbum in the Savelugu-Nanton District, where she interacted with women’s groups and beneficiaries of the school feeding, health and nutrition programmes.
Miss Sheeran equally inspected a supplementary feeding centre in the area. She was accompanied on the tour by the WFP Ghana Representative, Mr Ismail Omer, the Minister of Women and Children’s Affairs, Hajia Alima Mahama and the Regional Director of Education, Mr John Hobenu, among other dignitaries.
The director observed that Ghana was a pace-setter when it came to fighting malnutrition, lack of education and poverty, stressing that “Ghana is very special and important to me and I know the country would benefit from more interventions in the years ahead”.
She noted that the country was doing “pretty well in these days of high food and fuel prices”.
Miss Sheeran observed that although the northern regions were facing some challenges, a lot of gains had been made and commended the various development partners and the government for formulating effective strategies to increase school enrolment and improving the health status of children.
“Over the past 15 years, poverty in the northern regions has reduced marginally from six to five out of 10 people compared with the national average, which has dropped to three out of 10 people,” she pointed out.
She announced that the WFP had spent a total of $5.4 million on food commodities, equipment and training in the Northern Region from the year 2006-2008.
The Northern Regional Minister, Alhaji Mustapha Ali Idris, who met the director on arrival at the Tamale Airport, acknowledged the tremendous support the WFP had given to Northern Ghana, which had impacted positively on the nutrition and health status of schoolchildren.