MORE FOOD, MORE SICKNESS-GHS WARNS

By Ama Achiaa Amankwah

Prevention, it is said is better than cure. Food is vital to ensuring good and quality health than drugs. But the question of what to eat remains a nagging question in a developing country like Ghana.

Many are the people who just find anything to fill their stomach when hunger knocks. Even though accessibility to and availability of food is a basic human right, many people in Africa and for that matter Ghanaians struggle so hard to get daily bread In the search for food little attention is paid to the state of the food.

The Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, (GHS), Prof. Agyemang Badu-Akorsah and his team have therefore focused their attention on educating the public on food safety.

Speaking at the launch of the GHS Month 2005 to promote healthy living, Prof Akorsah said, “no single food contains our body’s need. A mix of different foods can supply the nutrients our bodies need.” This, he stated can be achieved by eating a variety of foods.

“By taking care of choose foods that are in season and locally available, you can have a diet that is enjoyable, healthy and does not cost very much.”

According to the health expert, one needs to abide the following so as to stay healthy; spread meals three times a day, do not skip breakfast as it is most important meal of the day, avoid eating late, (after 7p.m), eat a variety of foods, do not gobble down food but take time to eat and avoid too much fat, sugar and salt.

Ghanaians have been further advised to eat food that contain enough fibre and starch, to eat just enough to satisfy, to exercise daily, to cook with salt but never add salt after food is served, to avoid flavour boosters but rather to use ginger, garlic and other natural spices.


Prof Akorsah emphasizes the importance of water for daily existence. He teaches that about six to eight cups of water of fluids, (three litres per day) should be taken. Alcoholic drinks, he stated should be avoided as much as possible.

He regretted that although available local foods are reliable for ensuring healthy diet, Ghanaians have sadly taken to eating expensive and dangerous foreign foods.

Ensuring food safety has unfortunately been ignored in Ghana. The health expert explained there is microbiological and chemical contamination of food right from the farm to the table. A situation he attributed to indiscriminate defecation near farm lands, coupled with run off water of rain from such areas contaminates our crops with parasites, bacteria and viruses from the excreta.


A walk through the major cities in the country, particularly Accra and other regional capitals, reveals food being sold uncovered and near drains.
The World Health Organization, (WHO) estimates about 2.2 million deaths are recorded annually from food and water borne diarrhoeal diseases especially among children.

Prof. Akorsah cited liver cancer, kidney and liver failure, brain and neural disorders as well as death, as some of the serious long term effects of food-borne diseases.

“The toll of these diseases apart from poor health and suffering is the cost to the health sector as well as loss of productivity and retardation of economic development. Therefore, there is the need for a concerted action to confront the issue of food- borne ailments with a view to finding long term practical solutions.”
He revealed that national statistics place diarrhea among children to be among the 10 leading causes of death in Ghana. He said a conservative estimate of the loss of productivity among public health facility users in Greater Accra Region from food related ailments was about ¢3.5 billion cedis for the year 2004. Further, he stated there has been an increase in such ailments from 30,911 to 38,528 between 2000 and 2004.

Unfortunately, majority of the people involved in the cultivation of vegetables especially often use contaminated water from ponds and drains to water their crops.

The situation is common along the Accra ring road. A study by the International Water Management Institute of Accra, Kumasi and Tamale in 2002 revealed all samples of cabbage, lettuce and spring onions contained at least 4000 faecal coli forms per gram, being considerably higher for samples from Accra and Tamale.

“In deed, it is essential that Ghanaians rise up to ensure that the food we put in our bodies is safe. Thus, the annual GHS month to promote food safety to ensure healthy living”, Prof Akorsah stated.

He noted that most of these ‘chop bars’ have poor drainage facilities and inadequate toilet facilities. He revealed that a study among chop bar operators showed that 20% of them had fungal nail infections while 8-11% had intestinal worm infestations.

‘‘Even at home people practice poor personal hygiene. They fail to wash their hands with soap after defecation, coughing and sneezing. They are often taken for granted”.

He also cited poor environmental sanitation and unhygienic handling of food during food preparation particularly by traditional caterers, often known as ‘chop bars’ contributory sources to the burden of disease from poor food safety practices in Ghana.