Health expert calls for proper nutrition to develop cognitive abilities of children

Dr Kennedy Bomfeh, the Executive Director of Koko Plus Foundation, has urged parents to feed infants with the right nutrition supplements to advance their cognitive abilities.

Nutrition and growth indicators suggested challenges with the quality of complementary feeding in Ghana, resulting in stunted growth, he said.

The situation, he noted, could also be attributed to the prevalence of coexisting stunting, wasting and overweight in children under-five years as indicated in the Global Nutrition Report.

Dr Bomfeh told the Ghana News Agency that the research findings engineered a stakeholders’ action to come out with a new food supplement for the evidence-based improvement of infant nutrition in Ghana.

The lead partners included the University of Ghana, Ajinomoto Co. Inc. (Japan), and the International Nutrition Foundation (USA) to address the challenge of Nutrition Improvement and the development of a natural food supplement to address the problem.

The new food supplement, named Kokoplus, is made up of Soybean, Lysine (Amino Acid), vitamins and minerals, and Palm Olein emanating from local raw materials.

He said the product could reduce stunting, improve haemoglobin levels, prevent anaemia, and fight acute infection.

Dr Bomfeh said preventing malnutrition and infant morbidity and mortality was critical to the future of the country.