Half of Ghanaian households had to reduce food consumption due to covid-19

We continue to highlight the impact of the covid-19 pandemic in our series based on findings from the Ghana Statistical Service covid-19 household and jobs tracker survey.

Mobile money account ownership in Ghana

There has been a substantial increase in the amount of funds in mobile money accounts in Ghana between June last year and June this year. The increase in funds was from GH¢3 billion to GH¢4.5 billion while the number of active mobile money accounts increased from 12.9 million to 15.5 million. These changes have been attributed to the effect of the covid-19 pandemic.

We posted findings earlier from the covid-19 business tracker that showed businesses reporting using more digital technology in their businesses use.

The increase in the use of digital payments such as mobile money has us wondering about financial inclusion and the proportion of the population that has access to mobile money.

About 3 out of 10 Ghanaian children have not engaged in any learning activities since March

We discussed the implications of school closures on educational inequality in Ghana as not all children would be able to participate in virtual learning programmes because they did not have access to radio, TV, and/or internet.

The Ghana Statistical Service report from the first wave of their household and jobs survey confirms that a substantial proportion of children have not been able to engage in virtual learning since March.

3 out of 4 Ghanaian children who missed vaccinations did so due to covid-related reasons

During World Immunization Week 2020, the WHO called for actions to minimize disruptions to immunization programmes due to the covid-19 pandemic.

The Households and Jobs Tracker survey has confirmed that the pandemic has increased the risk of children who are due for vaccinations not getting the needed vaccine. The report indicated that 76.8% of children did not get vaccinated when they had to because of covid-19 related reasons.

Global breastfeeding scorecard

The Global Breastfeeding Collective, led by UNICEF and WHO, have developed a useful  scorecard that tracks progress towards 2030 global breastfeeding targets. The indicators in the scorecard assess programmes and policies for the promotion, protection and support of breastfeeding.

Read more about the scorecard and explore the interactive dashboard here.

Ghanaian businesses reported an average 61% decline in sales since March

The Ghana Statistical Service has just released findings from their Business Tracker survey which presents some sobering statistics on the impact of the covid-19 restrictions on businesses and the labour force. 

The report estimates businesses lost GHS 115.2 million in sales since March. An estimated 770,124 had their wages reduced while an estimate 41,952 were laid off. The report also highlighted the limited access to the government's assistance for businesses with only 3.5% of firms receiving government assistance.

Greater Accra and Ashanti covid-19 case counts greater than most African countries

Greater Accra has more confirmed covid-19 cases  (18,882) than the other 15 regions combined (18,132).

If Greater Accra region were a country on its own in the WHO African region*, it would rank 6th out of 47 in case counts** after only South Africa (503,290), Nigeria (43,537), Ghana (35,501), Algeria (30,950) and Kenya (21,363).

Ashanti region (9,328), which has more cases than the other regions excluding Greater Accra combined (8,804), would rank 11th out of 47.

Revisting our July covid-19 projections

We made some projections on what the national covid-19 case count would be at the end of July. Now that July has ended, we compare the projected with the actual figures.

The initial projections were based on the daily increases in June. The projection ended at July 29th because the Ghana Health Service did not provide figures for June 30th. There are also no figures available for July 29th and so the comparison will be for July 28th.

World Breastfeeding Week

August 1st to 7th marks World Breastfeeding Week, a time to promote breastfeeding and raise awareness on the physical and emotional benefits of breastfeeding for child and maternal health. The week commemorates the 1990 Innocenti Declaration  signed by international development agencies and governments to enable women exclusively breastfeeding for the first 4-6 months of their child's life.

The theme for this year is “Support breastfeeding for a healthier planet”.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), having near universal breastfeeding can save the lives of 800,000 children and 20,000 mothers every year. This is because breastfeeding is linked to lower risk of breast cancer, ovarian cancer, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease for mothers. For children, breastfeeding provides complete nutrition, protects against infections and illnesses and promotes early childhood development.

WHO guidelines recommend exclusive breastfeeding from the first hour of the child's life up till 6 months old. After 6 months, nutritious foods should complement breastfeeding up to 24 months or more.