A Fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences, Prof. Richmond Nii Okai Aryeetey FGA, has called for the mainstreaming of nutrition into Ghana’s national development planning, emphasising that the country’s food systems governance remains fragmented and ineffective.
Delivering his Inaugural Lecture of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences (GAAS) on Thursday, 16 October 2025, at the Kwame Nkrumah Auditorium, Prof. Aryeetey observed that the absence of a functional national nutrition policy reflects weak coordination and inadequate state interventions in the food and nutrition sector.
According to him, nutrition is a central component of human development and a critical determinant of national productivity and wellbeing.
“The health and wealth of a nation centre on nutrition as a key indicator, just as jobs, education, and other social factors count in determining a nation’s progress using the globally accepted Human Development Index,” he noted.
He explained that the country’s nutrition governance structures are “broken,” resulting in policy gaps that undermine Ghana’s health and social protection systems.
Prof. Aryeetey urged the government to demonstrate strong political will, beginning at the Executive level, and to provide adequate resources to operationalise existing food policy frameworks developed by local experts.
He proposed the establishment of a National Nutrition Commission under the direct oversight of the President to coordinate and implement multisectoral nutrition strategies. “The Executive must coordinate and syndicate all relevant ministries and agencies within the nutrition sector, as captured in the Food Policy Guidelines, into a fully fledged and well-resourced National Nutrition Commission directly under the oversight of the President,” he said. “This will help provide the needed policy interventions to mainstream nutrition within the framework of the National Development Plan going forward.”
Chairing the lecture, Prof. Alfred Apau Oteng-Yeboah, FGA, Vice President of the Sciences Section of GAAS, underscored the importance of aligning nutrition policy with national development objectives. He called for stronger institutional collaboration and resource allocation to ensure a coordinated national response to nutrition challenges.
“We need to harness the energies of the various agencies cutting across several ministries to properly position nutrition as a one-stop solution with coordinated and watertight management to build a healthy population in today’s fast-changing world where productivity comes at a premium,” he remarked.
The lecture was on the theme “Unpacking the Complexities of Food Systems and Nutrition Governance: A Game of Thrones?” It attracted a large audience, including Fellows and staff of the Academy, selected journalists, students from Accra Academy and Accra Girls’ Senior High School, as well as members of the general public.
The event formed part of the Academy’s 2025 Inaugural Lecture Series, aimed at promoting scholarly discourse on issues of national importance.
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