Covid-19: Health Policy Analyst Bemoans Food Sharing Formula

A research fellow and adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the New York University Prof Nana Kofi Quaky has bemoaned the method for food sharing in lockdown areas in Ghana in the wake of coronavirus.

According to him, the strategy being used by NADMO so far reflects a lack of proper planning.

“What we have seen in the areas and the modalities reflect a lack of proper planning. Those modalities for feeding those in the lockdown areas will have to change immediately. If we don’t change the strategy we are going to end up creating a bigger problem.

“There is no doubt in my mind that the modalities of the lockdown here have in impacted what we are seeing across the country,” he told Francis Abban on the Morning Starr Tuesday.

Some Ghanaians have taken to social media to express concerns over the manner in which government is distributing food to the vulnerable in the lockdown areas. Videos on social media have shown crowds gather in queues for food and other items.

The Coalition of NGOs in Health has appealed to government to make use of the social workers in its social intervention provisions in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic in Ghana.

According to the chairman of the coalition, Gabriel Banaku, social workers will have better ways of managing social interventions and will not allow crowds to gather in the distribution of food.

Meanwhile, Government is spending GHC2 million on the hot meals being provided for Ghaianas in the lockdown areas in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic in Ghana, NADMO has revealed.

According to the Communications Director of NADMO, George Ayisi, each pack of food costs the state GHC5. Over 400,000 people are being fed under the social intervention program.

Speaking to Francis Abban on the Morning Starr Monday, Mr Ayisi said he, however, favours a situation where people would be given dry meals to cook by themselves.

“We are spending GHC2 million a day on the hot meals we are providing and it is not one person alone preparing the meal. It is spread across many people,” he said.

---classfmonline