Professor Lydia Aziato, Vice Chancellor of the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS), has emphasised the need to break socio-cultural barriers to quality nutrition in communities.
She said that long held cultural beliefs and practices that tabooed the consumption of certain foods continued to inhibit access to the nutrition sources, and that stakeholders needed to work to deconstruct such food myths.
Several communities are known to ban the consumption of certain food sources particularly animals, and the Vice Chancellor made the call while opening a three-day workshop on nutrition reporting for media practitioners in the Volta Region.
The Workshop was organised by Africa Catalysing Action for Nutrition (AfriCan), an organisation of nutritionists from Across the African Continent, which seeks to address nutrition shortfalls.
Prof Aziato said the media should play key roles in the efforts, and that the training initiative should equip them to throw down food taboos and common misconceptions.
“How do we disabuse the minds of our people so that they can feed well?, she called out to practitioners and said, “with quality foods and nutrition we would be able to prevent even generational diseases.”
The Vice Chancellor commended AfriCan for the training opportunity believing it would “breakdown nutrition for the media to propagate.”
She said with quality foods and nutrition, the nation could prevent even generational diseases, and that media should master key nouns and terminologies in local languages for better communication.
She said media should help promote sustainable agriculture amidst changing climate, and also help guide food processing and nutritious preparation.
UHAS ready to partner with all stakeholders in promoting healthy living in the Region and beyond.
Madam Catherine Adu-Asare, Programmes Manager of the Diet and Healthy Life Program of the Ghana Health Service, who was a key facilitator at the training, spoke of changing nutrition landscape and said the media should help ensure a reversion to traditional food sources.
She said the media role would help address increasing lifestyle diseases, resulting from the consumption of modernised ultra processed foods, and also called to consider the role of food taboos in nutrition deficiency.
A total of 25 media practitioners benefited from the training workshop, which focused on all aspects of nutrition, and provided for them practical approaches to dealing with the subject.
Professor Francis Zotor, Trustee of the AfriCan, said media would be positioned to lead the charge for enhanced nutrition in the communities, adding that the Organisation was working with various stakeholders for the ultimate outcomes.
