World Health Organization (WHO) Supports Ghana’s Efforts to Strengthen Nutrition Services with Essential Nutrition Actions Package

The World Health Organization (WHO) has reaffirmed its commitment to improving nutrition services, working with the Ghana Health Service and partners to adapt and provide printed copies of the revised Essential Nutrition Actions (ENAs) Package. The revised ENA marks a significant step in ensuring that frontline health workers have the necessary tools to implement comprehensive nutrition interventions at the Primary Health Care (PHC) level.

The ENAs Package serves as a roadmap for integrating nutrition services into Ghana’s Universal Health Coverage (UHC) strategy. It builds on the country’s 2020-2030 UHC Roadmap, which prioritizes PHC as the foundation for improving service delivery. Ghana’s revised ENAs package adopts a life-course approach recognizing that, addressing malnutrition requires interventions at all critical stages of life—from pregnancy through childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, ensuring that no one is left behind.

Since 2014, Ghana has implemented seven (7) ENAs, adapted from WHO’s global framework. These actions targeted pregnant and lactating women and children under five and emphasized a few key interventions. However, to address emerging nutrition challenges—including childhood obesity and the long-term effects of poor nutrition, Ghana has updated its ENAs package, building on the previous and the latest evidence-based interventions to tackle malnutrition in all its forms. This revised package of 58 interventions is also aligned with the updated Global WHO ENAs Framework (2019), national health policies and guidelines.

Speaking on the importance of this donation, Dr. Frank Lule, Officer in Charge of WHO Ghana, emphasized WHO’s commitment to strengthening Ghana’s health system.
“Nutrition is a critical pillar of health and ensuring that healthcare providers have access to updated resources is essential for improving service delivery. This revised package will support health workers in delivering high-quality nutrition services across the country”, he said.

Received on behalf of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) by Madam Olivia Mawunyo Timpo, Deputy Director Nutrition – Family Health Division, expressed appreciation for WHO’s continued support, noting that the provision of these materials will enhance capacity building and ensure that nutrition services are effectively integrated into primary health care delivery. She conveyed the department’s appreciation to UNICEF and the academic community for their contributions to the document’s adaptation.

The newly printed ENAs materials include detailed interventions, guidelines for facility-based staff, and standardized training resources to ensure effective implementation of essential nutrition actions. These materials will be distributed across various healthcare facilities, empowering frontline health workers to provide comprehensive nutrition services to communities as part of a coordinated action from different sectors.

Through initiatives like this, WHO and GHS continue to work together to enhance Ghana’s health security and ensure that nutrition services remain a core component of the country’s journey toward UHC.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of World Health Organization (WHO), Ghana.