By Albert Allotey
Accra, Nov. 07, GNA – The Coalition of Actors for Public Health Advocacy (CAPHA) under the Healthy Diets for Healthy Lives (HD4HL) has organised a day’s capacity building training for experts and stakeholders in nutrition, gender, and advocacy sectors.
The workshop was on the theme: “Advancing Public Health Through Nutrition Equity, Gender-Fair Policies, and Strategic Media Advocacy.”
The goal is to strengthen the advocacy skills necessary to influence food policies, particularly in critical areas like health taxes, marketing restrictions, public procurement policies, and labelling practices, in a gender-sensitive and evidence-informed manner.
It was attended by government agencies, civil society organisations, and the media.
Nana Akua Anyidoho, an Association Professor and the Director of the Centre for Social Policy Studies at the University of Ghana, said the reason for advocating gender in the HD4HL project was because our interactions with food and knowledge of nutrition were gendered.
She said gender has been implicated in our relationships with social institutions and systems.
The Don added: “Every intervention, policy, programme, or project is gendered in nature in regard to its assumptions, goals, and implementation processes, and in its impact.”
She recommended that gender analysis should be incorporated in all components of the written policy, and that the intended impact of a specific policy should address the interest and needs of men and women, boys and girls, and benefits should be equitably distributed.
Mr. Labram Musah, National Coordinator, Ghana NCD Alliance said in crafting effective health policy for media advocacy there was the need for tailored messages for different audiences such as policymakers, health professionals and the public.
The messages should come by data-driven and outcome-focused language while highlighting practical implications and public health benefits; and to simplify terminology and use relatable examples.
Mr Musah said the media holds transformative power in shaping policy and opinion and that to this end there was the need to ensure consistent and continuous media and public engagement to support health policies.
“Be proactive in adopting new media trends continuously, evaluate and refine messaging strategies, and to monitor industry interferences to counter their arguments,” he stated.
Dr. Kasim Abdulai, Executive Director, Operations, CAPHA, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency appealed to the media to actively support the campaign of the HD4HL project to save the public from the consumption of unhealthy foods.
The HD4HL Project is intended to build evidence and mobilize multi-stakeholder action towards a policy bundle for healthier and more equitable consumer food environments that reduce the double burden of malnutrition.
GNA