Half the Plate
A dietitian redraws the ordinary banku and waakye plate, while Ghana's hypertension figures and the free screening at CHPS compounds give the arithmetic weight.
"Banku is going to be a quarter of the plate, then my okro or ayoyo soup is going to occupy half the plate," the registered dietitian Selma Gbolonyo-Cass said. She was speaking on The Healthy Living Project on the Citi Breakfast Show on Friday, 4 September. The plate she described was an ordinary one.
Her point was plain. Many traditional Ghanaian meals, she said, already contain nutritious ingredients and can be part of a healthy diet in the right proportions. In her account, eating well does not mean spending more money on unfamiliar or imported foods.
The model she uses is simple arithmetic. Half the plate is vegetables. A quarter is carbohydrate and a quarter is protein.
Waakye gets a small correction. "Let me use Waakye as an example," she said. "It is basically rice and beans, and beans are more of a carbohydrate than the protein we all tend to believe." Some households may have been counting on the beans to do more of the protein work than they do.
Why proportions matter comes down to a number that has stayed steady for a long time. In a systematic review published in PLOS One in March 2021, the researchers Bosu and Bosu pooled 85 studies covering 82,045 apparently healthy people in Ghana, with a search ending in April 2020. They estimated adult hypertension prevalence at 27.0 per cent. They concluded that more than one in four adults in Ghana has hypertension, that this has persisted for decades, and that it is similar in rural and urban populations.
Under that figure sit quieter ones. Among people with hypertension in the review, 35 per cent were aware of it, 22 per cent were on treatment and 6.0 per cent had their blood pressure controlled. Most of the people counted did not know.
Hypertension was also the leading cause of death in Ghana in 2017, the review says, accounting for 15.3 per cent of deaths and 4.7 per cent of hospital admissions. Among behavioural risk factors, the authors list food high in salt and fat, too little fruit and vegetables, low physical activity and poor stress management. The half-plate of vegetables sits squarely in that list.
Its count stops in April 2020, so the years since are not in it. Official remarks suggest no easing. At a Ministry of Health, Ghana Health Service and GIZ innovation challenge on 27 November 2025, Dr Hafiz Adam Taher, speaking for the Minister of Health, said cases of Type 2 diabetes and hypertension continue to rise across the country.
At the clinic end of the routine, this year brought a change. President John Dramani Mahama launched the Free Primary Healthcare programme at Dodowa on 15 April. According to the Ghanaian Times, its services include routine screening for hypertension, diabetes, obesity and cancers at CHPS compounds, health posts, health centres and polyclinics, with a focus on underserved districts.
Money has started to move. The Ghanaian Times reported on 14 August 2026 that the NHIA had released GH¢35,099,215.84 as a first-quarter payment to the 107 districts running the programme. Primary care under it is free. Referrals to district, regional or teaching hospitals still require a valid NHIS card. The NHIA Chief Executive, Dr Victor Asare Bampoe, encouraged residents of participating districts to have their vitals checked regularly.
That makes one tie worth stating. The NHIA, which funds the programme, also sponsors The Healthy Living Project, where the dietitian spoke, together with Synlab; the project is powered by Channel One TV and Citi FM.
Walking has its place in this too. When a community walk organised by TNYOU Fitness for its 10th anniversary drew over 300 people from the University of Ghana Sports Stadium in 2025, its founder, Mrs Tracey Sena Yeboah, put it simply. Being active, she said, "can be as simple as going for a walk."
In Accra, the Ghana Health Service joined the UN for its own walk to mark World Health Day 2026, under the theme "A Walk in Solidarity: Global Action for Universal Health Coverage". The service tied the day to the growing burden of chronic diseases in the country.
The route started at the UNDP office and went through Labone and its environs. Then it came back to the UNDP premises.
It ended with aerobics.
“It is basically rice and beans, and beans are more of a carbohydrate than the protein we all tend to believe.”
- Waakye, banku and other local dishes are healthy if portions are right (Ghanamma, from Citi Newsroom)
- Prevalence, awareness and control of hypertension in Ghana (PLOS One, 2021)
- NHIA releases GH¢35.1 million for Free Primary Healthcare services (Ghanaian Times)
- Ghana Health Sector Champions Digital Innovation for Diabetes and Hypertension Care (GHS)
- GHS Joins UN for Health Walk to Mark World Health Day 2026 (Ghana Health Service)
- Health walk organised to raise awareness on non-communicable diseases (Ghanaian Times)
