Ho, Aug. 11, GNA - The lives of Ghanaian children have improved in the last six years due to government's targeted policies and programmes, Mr Sylvester Kyei-Gyamfi, Head of Information Research and Advocacy Division (IRAD) of the Department of Children said on Monday. He said government has shown strong commitment to the implementation of child-focused programmes borne out of democracy and good governance.

Mr Kyei-Gyamfi said this at a workshop to disseminate the country's report on the World Fit For Children (WFFC) for stakeholders in Ho. It was organised by the Department of Children of the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs.

Mr Kyei-Gyamfi said consistent support from donor partners, institutions and non-governmental and community-based organizations, has also ensured the protection and development of the child. He said since 2001, national effort has focused on campaigning against negative cultural practices such as trokosi, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), early marriage and nutritional taboos, which were yielding positive results.

Such initiatives, he said, helped in enhancing people's perception and conceptions about certain negative socio-cultural practices that affect children.

Mr Kyei-Gyamfi said as a result of good policy actions, access to education had also improved significantly with increased resources and investment.

"Overall, there have been very positive trends in student enrolment and transition rates between 2001/2002 and 2006/2007 academic years", he said and added that pupil-teacher ratio at the primary school level had also improved slightly from 34:1 in 2003/2004 to 33: 1 in 2006/2007. Little, Mr Kyei-Gymafi noted has been achieved in areas such as child malnutrition, child-trafficking, street children, child-labour and child abuse.

He said almost one in five Ghanaian children is underweight representing 18 per cent with three per cent classified as severely underweight.

Mrs Florence Ayisi Quartey also of IRAD said despite these problems the Ghanaian child now occupied a better place when it came to the governance of the country.

She said every child had fundamental rights to develop physically, mentally and socially to his or her fullest potential. Participants at the workshop called for a reliable system of data collection for proper planning.