The Northern Regional Minister, Hon. Shani Alhassan Shaibu, has lauded Global Affairs Canada for their partnership in implementing the ‘Championing Nutrition and Gender Equality’ (CHANGE) project in Ghana.
This initiative, backed by a grant of approximately CD$7,170,018.00 (GHΒ’60,081,097.00) over five years, aims to combat malnutrition and gender inequality through the empowerment of marginalized groups such as pregnant and lactating women, adolescent girls, and children under five.
During the official launch of the CHANGE project in Tamale on Tuesday, 12 March, 2024, Hon. Shaibu emphasized the importance of collective commitment to achieving the project’s objectives, highlighting the persisting challenges faced by Northern Ghana in terms of child malnutrition with alarming statistics from recent health surveys.
“Despite the levels of investments and progress made in addressing national nutrition needs, Northern Ghana, specifically the Northern, Upper East, and Savannah regions still continue to lag behind. According to the recent 2022 Ghana Demographic and Health survey report, the Northern region stands out with the highest percentage of underweight children aged 6-59 months (19.9%) and anemia prevalence (69.4%), surpassing the national figures of 12.3% and 48.9%, respectively,” he stated.
“The Minister added that βNorthern Region in terms of low birth weights, affects about 19.9% of live births, and higher rates of stunting and wasting of about 28.8% and 9.1% respectively among children under five.β
“As a society, we cannot afford to continue living with health issues such as anemia, stunting, wasting and underweight, and poverty. The CHANGE project is one piece of other interventions with similar goals and, we must work effectively and efficiently to universally eradicate poverty and hunger to promote health and well-being of our people for sustainable national development”, he said.
Hon. Shaibu said the CHANGE project is timely and a game changer, and expressed optimism that, the Ghana Health Service and other departments of the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in the beneficiary Regions will be at the forefront to ensure the achievement of the project goals.
He reiterated the urgency of addressing health issues such as anemia and child malnutrition, stressing the importance of eradicating poverty and hunger for sustainable national development.
Dr. Belinda Bennet, Chief International Programs Officer at Children Believe, Canada, outlined the project’s scope, covering three regions and nine districts. With a focus on 12 communities in each district and a total of 27 healthcare facilities, the project aims to reach over 140,000 beneficiaries, with a significant emphasis on female empowerment and child health.
The Canadian High Commissioner, H.E. Martine Moreau in her statement said about 865,000 people in the northern part of the country had benefited from water, sanitation and hygiene products, supported by the Canadian government.
“The CHANGE Project would further improve on the livelihood of the people in the northern part of the country”, she added.
The beneficiary districts include; Tolon, Kumbungu and Nanumba South Districts in Northern Region. Kassena-Nankana Municipal, Kassena-Nankana West District, and Builsa South District in North East Region. Sawla-Tuna-Kalba District, Bole District and East Gonja District in Savannah Region.