News Guide Africa

Tag: United Nations

  • Ghana’s First Lady Calls for Global Action to Protect Children at UNGA 80

    Ghana’s First Lady Calls for Global Action to Protect Children at UNGA 80

    The First Lady of Ghana, H.E. Mrs. Lordina Dramani Mahama, has made a passionate appeal for stronger global commitment to safeguarding children caught in conflict and humanitarian crises.

    Speaking at the 7th Annual Prayer Service for Children, hosted by World Vision International at the Tillman Chapel, United Nations Church Centre in New York, Mrs. Mahama described the gathering as “A Moment of Hope” for the world’s most vulnerable.

    She highlighted the devastating impact of wars and crises on children, noting that hundreds of thousands are trapped in armed conflicts, with many forced into combat and robbed of their childhood.

    Quoting her husband, President John Dramani Mahama, she reminded leaders that “the challenges facing our children today are immense, but they can be tackled through decisive leadership.”

    Mrs. Mahama emphasized the importance of faith, prayer and decisive policies in building a safer world where children are protected and empowered to reach their full potential. She also lifted a special prayer for needy and orphaned children, asking for divine protection, provision and opportunities for their future.

    She concluded by urging leaders worldwide to prioritize policies that safeguard families and nurture youth, stressing that when nations fail children, the cost to humanity is immeasurable.

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • The Accra Reset: Mahama to launch a global framework beyond conventional aid UNGA 80

    The Accra Reset: Mahama to launch a global framework beyond conventional aid UNGA 80

    President John Dramani Mahama is set to launch a major international initiative, “The Accra Reset: Reimagining Global Governance for Health and Development, ”on the sidelines of the 80th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.

    As the African Union’s Champion for African Financial Institutions, President Mahama will host a high-level event to introduce the initiative, which aims to overhaul global governance structures and provide more effective responses to health and development challenges in a rapidly changing world.

    The Accra Reset is a bold framework designed to replace outdated global development models. It calls for a fundamental transformation of how nations collaborate in the post-SDG era, moving beyond conventional aid structures toward more resilient, equitable, and responsive systems.

    Global Presidential Council to Be Unveiled

    During the launch, President Mahama will announce the creation of a Global Presidential Council, comprising Heads of State and Government from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and other regions. This council will lead efforts to implement the Reset’s goals and champion reform in global health and development governance.

    Additionally, a High-Level Advisory Panel will be established, bringing together experts from finance, health, business, and innovation sectors to guide the initiative’s direction and ensure practical outcomes.

    The launch of The Accra Reset follows growing concerns about the effectiveness of global development frameworks. A 2023 UN review found that fewer than half of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are on track, with areas like global health, inequality, and fiscal stability facing serious setbacks.

    “The era of development-as-usual is over,” the initiative asserts, calling for a complete rethinking of global cooperation.

    The Reset will first focus on the health sector, which has been particularly exposed to global shocks and systemic weaknesses. The framework builds on outcomes from the Africa Health Sovereignty Summit, held in Accra in August 2025, and promotes agile, coalition-based approaches capable of delivering real-world impact.

    The launch is expected to draw global leaders, heads of multilateral institutions, business innovators, philanthropic foundations, and civil society representatives from across Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, and beyond.

    In a statement, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, Spokesperson to the President and Minister for Government Communications, emphasized the importance of the initiative, describing it as “a timely and transformative step towards reengineering global cooperation for a more resilient future.”

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Northern Ghana: the panorama of growing food insecurity amidst heightened terrorism and tribal conflict

    Northern Ghana: the panorama of growing food insecurity amidst heightened terrorism and tribal conflict

    Acute hunger set to soar in over 20 countries, warn FAO and WFP

    By: Adnan Adams Mohammed

     

    Malnutrition and signs of poverty are easily identified among the people of northern Ghana as you travel across the regions.

     

    Data from a research by OpenStreetMap (OSM) has shown that more than 70% of rural households in the northern region of Ghana are food insecure and malnourished.

     

    This is despite global effort to achieve food security and improved nutrition, particularly among rural households in developing countries. Yet, rural household food insecurity and undernourishment have been major developmental challenges to governments of many developing countries including Ghana.

     

    These are further aggravated by the growing security instability due to ethnic clashes and remnants of terror attack fears from neighboring Burkina Faso.

     

    While, food security is a phenomenon resulting from multiple causes which are food availability, food accessibility, food utilization and food stability. Agricultural growth, in most developing countries like Ghana, has been the major driver of poverty reduction.

    To confirm the veracity of the hardship, the 2020 Comprehensive Food Security and Vulnerability Analysis (CFSVA) has indicated that, Food insecurity in Ghana is concentrated in the five northern regions of the country. The regional breakdown rate of vulnerability is given as: Upper East (48.7%); North East (33%); Northern (30.7%); Upper West (22.8%); and Savannah (22.6%).

     

    The CFSVA survey undertaken by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) in collaboration with Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), with financial and technical assistance by World Food Programme (WFP) and Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations, further indicated that, the 5 regions which have highest level of food insecurity are also the areas most prone to adverse weather conditions, such as perennial floods as a result of spillover of the Bagre dam in Burkina Faso and severe droughts as those part are typical savanna areas, which does not favor the rain-fed farming mostly practiced by the people of the north.

     

    Yet, a study, authored by A. Bawa of Tamale Technical University and published by the Asian Journal of Agricultural Extension Economics & Sociology, estimated that, “about 97.5% of households are engaged in crop farming in northern Ghana.”

     

    An indication that agricultural production is the main activity in the northern sector of Ghana, practiced mainly on seasonal and subsistence level. The people are mostly engaged in crop farming such as maize, rice, sorghum, soy beans, cowpea, cassava, yam, cotton and vegetables, with few households engaging in poultry, livestock and pig rearing.

    A typical subsistence agriculture means,  households farming for their own consumption and for the market. Based on the Ghana Living Standards Survey (GLSS), Ghanaian households show notable differences in employment and welfare across regions, with the northern regions having the lowest per capita incomes.

     

    As already indicated, agriculture sector is the largest source of employment for the people of northern Ghana as almost 98% of households are engaged in smallholder farming. These farmers are challenged human resource and managerial skills, natural resource management, technology development and food insecurity.

     

    This, is evident by the CFSVA survey which revealed that, households that depend mainly on agriculture as their source of household income, unskilled labour, household heads who are less educated and remittances dependent households are more likely to be food insecure.

    According to the Ghana Strategy Support Programme (GSSP), promoting agricultural growth will have a great effect on reducing poverty at the regional level because of the strong linkages between income and consumption.

     

    “However, after years of sustained concentration of development aid and NGO operations, entrenched poverty remains pervasive in northern Ghana, with significant implications for rural livelihoods”, Benjamin Kwao noted in a recent publication.

     

    “Enhanced governmental support to agriculture in the form of service provision is vital to the growth and productivity of smallholder farmers. Although, there have been deliberate effort by governments increase support to the agricultural sector such as; provision of irrigation, agricultural credit, input subsidy, agricultural extension and mechanization services to smallholders aimed at improving farmers’ access to these services in order to improve agricultural productivity and rural livelihoods.

     

    “Notwithstanding the critical role of access to services in agricultural production and productivity, many small-scale farmers in Ghana and other developing countries have limited access to these services. Majority of agricultural producers in developing countries are peasants who live in remote communities with limited access to most agricultural services. Poor road infrastructure, long distances to farms, and inaccessibility to many service providers are constraints that hinder many smallholder farmers from accessing agricultural services”, the researcher noted.

     

    The governments is therefore asked to improve road infrastructure, and offer logistical support to service providers to enable them to reach farmers in remote places. But, the critical challenge is how to ensure that services are made accessible to farmers to enhance farm performance and food security.

  • Paediatric Society worries of increasing malnutrition cases

    Paediatric Society worries of increasing malnutrition cases

    Abida H. Bawa

     

    Ghana Paediatric Society has alarmed of a worrying situation increasing malnutrition cases due to the current economic hardship.

     

    The society noted that, more people are finding it difficult to eat two square meals a day. The situation is becoming disastrous to children.

     

    “Already, we have an issue with malnutrition because of the current hardships in the country,” Dr Hilda Mantebea, President of the Pediatric Society, said.

     

    She bemoaned the cost of eggs fish and a pound of meat currently which are needed in the meal of children for their protein content.

     

    This, she noted, has dire health consequences for the country.

     

    The World Health Organisation define Malnutrition as deficiencies or excesses in nutrient intake, imbalance of essential nutrients or impaired nutrient utilization. The double burden of malnutrition consists of both undernutrition and overweight and obesity, as well as diet-related noncommunicable diseases.

     

    UNICEF in a new report on children, food and nutrition has warned that, an alarmingly high number of children are suffering the consequences of poor diets and a food system that is failing them. It indicated that, in Ghana, close to one in every five children under 5 years is stunted while one in every ten children under 5 is underweight.

     

    Also, compounding the current situation of malnutrition, a new report by the United Nations concluded that widespread child under-nutrition has taken a toll on Ghana’s economy. The report, The Cost of Hunger in Africa: Social and Economic Impact of Child Undernutrition in Ghana, found that the effects of hunger and stunting cost Ghana $2.6 billion dollars per year.

     

    The report argues that Ghana’s government must make nutrition more of a priority in national development planning in order to improve food security.

     

    Chronic malnutrition and stunting afflicts 19 percent of Ghana’s population and is responsible for 24 percent of all child mortality cases. Some areas face more hunger than others as 30 percent of children under five in Ghana’s northern region are stunted. Stunting occurs when adolescents are severely deprived of critical nutrients, such as proteins and minerals, while in the womb or during the first two years of life. According to the report, 37 percent of Ghana’s adult population suffered from stunting as children.

     

    Malnutrition and stunting have significant long-term consequences on individual development and Ghana’s economy. Chronic health and food insecurity have resulted in higher health care expenses, additional burdens on the national education system and lower productivity by Ghana’s workforce.

     

    The effects of stunting are also felt in Ghana’s educational system. Children who are underfed are more likely to miss, repeat classes and drop out of school. The report estimates that of the current working population aged 20 to 64, 72 percent of people who were stunted as a child completed primary school compared to 80 percent of those who were not stunted.

     

    The report further says that repeating grades “increases the demand that the education system must meet, with the resulting costs in infrastructure, equipment, human resources and educational input.” In 2012, the 19,720 students who repeated a grade cost Ghana’s education system approximately $12.85 million.

     

    Malnutrition also limits adults’ ability to work and contribute to Ghana’s economy. In manual work, such as agriculture, people affected by stunting lack the strength necessary to match the production and efficiency of individuals who are healthier. Non-manual workers who are stunted also produce less output because they received fewer years of schooling than people who were adequately nourished as children.

     

    The U.N. recommends that the government invest more in nutrition policies and interventions to boost the overall health of Ghanaians. Better coordination among national agencies is necessary to create a more concerted approach to providing citizens with better nourishment.

     

    The report notes that forging partnerships with private organizations and non-state actors will help the government “accelerate the development and implementation of malnutrition prevention strategies.”

     

    Health officials can also raise more awareness about ways that people can improve their nutrition and health.