Nine in ten women who harvest, process and sell oysters at three Ghanaian estuaries live in households that do not have secure access to food, a University of Ghana PhD thesis has found.
Of 504 women studied, 464 (92.1%) were in food-insecure households.
Most of them were in the worst category. In all, 396 women (78.6%) were classed as severely food insecure.
Half of the women (252) said someone in the household had gone to sleep hungry. Almost one in four (122) said someone had gone a whole day and night without eating.
The study covered women aged 15 to 49 at three sites. These were the Densu estuary around Bortianor, Tsokomey and Tetegu in Greater Accra, the Whin estuary near New Amanful in the Western Region, and Narkwa Lagoon in Ekumfi, Central Region. Data were collected in June and July 2021.
The author used a structured questionnaire with a standard food insecurity scale, repeated 24-hour food recalls, body measurements and capillary blood samples to test for anaemia. Food insecurity was high at all three sites, at 93.5% at Densu, 93.1% at Narkwa and 88.5% at Whin. The gap between sites was not statistically significant.
The study also found a double burden. While food was short, 43.7% of the women were overweight or obese, and about one in five (103 women) was anaemic. Across six minerals, including iron and zinc, rates of inadequate intake ranged from 90.0% to 94.8% at the three sites.
Oysters helped. They supplied 17.2% of the women's daily iron and 18.3% of their daily zinc.
Tests on 915 oyster samples found arsenic, mercury, cadmium and lead. The author rated the average health risk from these metals as low, but also warns that heavy metals pose risks and that estuary pollution must be reduced.
The study has limits. It is a snapshot, so it cannot show cause and effect. Food insecurity was self-reported, and the author notes that worries during the COVID-19 period may have pushed answers up.
Fewer women than planned were recruited at Whin. The findings apply to these three sites, not to all coastal women in Ghana.
The author recommends nutrition education and obesity prevention within reproductive health services, better access to nutritious food, and action to keep estuaries clean so oysters stay safe to eat.
Source: Francis Zinenuba Taabia, PhD thesis, University of Ghana, 2024. Full document: https://ugspace.ug.edu.gh/handle/123456789/45062