Health and Nutrition - ACENSIA

Why Nutrition Matters to ACENSIA

In Northern Ghana, high rates of malnutrition, including stunting, underweight, and micronutrient deficiencies, disproportionately affect vulnerable populations such as children and women. Despite the region’s agricultural potential, food insecurity persists due to factors like erratic weather patterns, limited market access, and low yields. Consequently, many farming communities struggle to meet their nutritional needs, resulting in stunted growth, micronutrient deficiencies, and poor health among children.

Investing in nutrition isn’t just a moral imperative; it’s an economic necessity. Research indicates that healthy, well-nourished individuals are more productive and contribute to economic growth. We believe that investing in nutrition is a direct investment in our success.

Our Nutrition Strategy

Nutrition Education and Awareness: Collaborating closely with the Women in Agricultural Development (WIAD) and nutrition unit of Ghana Health Service to develop easy-to-read food recipe booklet and video instruction of approved cooking practices tailored to the cultural contexts of the communities we serve. Our nutrition education emphasizes the importance of micronutrient-rich foods such as moringa, soybeans, fruits, green leafy vegetables, orange-flesh sweet potatoes, and whole grains for child nutrition.

Nutrition-sensitive Agriculture: We promote nutrition-sensitive agriculture practices by encouraging smallholder farmers to diversify crops to enhance dietary diversity. We provide technical support to motivate farmers to consider dry-season gardening to diversify their income and enhance dietary diversity during the dry season.

Training on Food Utilization and Integration: We build local capacity to incorporate locally available nutrient-rich foods such as soybeans, moringa, leafy vegetables, orange flesh sweet potato and many more into household diets for improved nutrition. Through our collaborative efforts, ACENSIA is able to provide Trainer-of-Trainers (ToT) session and cooking demonstrations for community agents and groups on how to integrate nutrient dense foods into household diet. Our training emphasize nutrition for children, women of reproductive age and the elderly. We also tailor training to support income generation for rural entrepreneurs.

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