Ghana may lose over $300 million (about N39 billion) within the next decade if the rate of malnutrition in children and expectant mothers continues to rise, the country's Minister of Health, Dr. Richard Anane has said.

A report monitored by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abidjan quoted the minister as saying that the increasing rate of malnutrition in children and women is impacting negatively on the country's human resource base.

Addressing the sixth annual nutrition focal point meeting of West Africa and some Portuguese-speaking countries in Central Africa in Accra, Dr. Anane said that the decreasing human resource base was capable of undermining economic growth.

He noted that if the trend was not checked, malnutrition will account for 14 percent of acute respiratory infections, 23 percent of diarrhoea cases and a host of other diseases.

The Director-General of the West Africa Health Organisation, Mr. Kabba Joiner, also attributed the inavailability of adequate manpower in the sub-region to the high malnutrition rate.

He urged African leaders to launch a new paradigm that will make malnutrion a priority on their development programmes.