Bawku (U/E), Oct 4, GNA - The World Food Programme (WFP) has supported 43,000 children in school with meals and 20,000 mothers with supplementary feeding in the Upper East Region.

This came up during the distribution of 153 metric tones of food to 10,000 people in Bawku to help them cope with the September and October lean season whilst waiting to harvest their crops. The WFP took the initiative as a result of an emergency food security assessment it conducted through the Bawku Municipal Assembly, National Disaster Management Organization, Ghana Health Service, Ghana Education Service and Red Cross to find evidence of malnutrition among children less than five years and nursing mothers. The head of the WFP for the three northern regions, Mrs Mei Yue, said 2,520 bags of maize, 60 bags of iodated salt, 360 bags of beans and 413 cartons of vegetable oil.

WFP is supporting the National School Feeding Programme in seven schools where 3,300 children were provided with school meals. She said 240 girls received take-home food rations to encourage them to stay in school and 21,000 vulnerable pregnant women and nursing mothers received supplementary feeding.

Receiving the items the Municipal Chief Executive, Mr Abdulai Musah, commended the WFP for its effort to promote the development of the area. Mr Musah said the food had come at a time most people in the area had little to eat because they had not harvested their crops yet.