Objective: The relationship between a child's environment and nutritional status is difficult to examine yet could offer an important guide to policy. The objective of the present work was to examine individual and environmental correlates with childhood height-for-age in Ghana.

The cocoa sector has, historically, been the backbone of the Ghanaian economy. Many households depend directly on the cocoa sector for livelihoods, and aspects of the cocoa industry, such as input supplies to farmers and cocoa pricing, have historically featured prominently in national and local politics. This paper examines the basic underlying political economy dynamics of the cocoa value chain, with particular focus on how the interests, powers and interactions of various actors along the value chain have contributed to agricultural commercialisation in Ghana. The paper also explores the challenges affecting the cocoa value chain, social difference within the chain, and how various segments of the cocoa value chain have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana since March 2020.

This paper examines the challenges to the implementation of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Protocol on Free Movement, with particular reference to Ghana and Sierra Leone. The paper is based on a desktop review and in-depth interviews with selected ECOWAS migrants and officials of institutions responsible for managing migration in Ghana and Sierra Leone. The findings suggest that Ghana and Sierra Leone have made modest progress in the implementation of the protocol. Apart from abolishing visa and entry requirements for 90 days, both countries have adopted the standardized ECOWAS Travel Certificate. Despite a few achievements, the following challenges affect the implementation of the free movement protocol in both countries: Policy ambiguities resulting from contradictions between national laws on employment and the ECOWAS Free Movement Protocol; harassment of migrants; migrants lack of travel documents; low level of knowledge about the ECOWAS protocol; resource constraints; fears of competition with immigrants, especially in Ghana; securitization of migration and migrants; weak labour market and migration information systems, economic challenges and political instability. This paper concludes that the future implementation outcomes of the ECOWAS protocol largely depend on the commitment of the member states and financial support that they receive from ECOWAS and its development partners.

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Underweight prevalence among preschool children in Africa has been studied, but the effects of culture and geography remain unclear. This study used the 2008 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey data for 2244 children aged 0‐59 months and generalized linear mixed models to analyze these data. The results showed that culture and geography remained significantly associated with preschool underweight prevalence after controlling for demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of children, mothers, and households. Additionally, the gender of a child, size at birth, fever status, mother's BMI, insurance coverage and number of children <5 years in the household were significantly associated with underweight prevalence in Ghana. The study concluded that in addition to specific characteristics of children, mothers, and households, culturally motivated childhood dietary restrictions among the Ga/Dangme and Ewe could be reduced through appropriately targeted nutritional messages. Additionally, decreasing North‐South disparities in socioeconomic development, and improving nutritional outcomes among disadvantaged households in southern Ghana should be the focus of policies and strategies directed at reducing preschool underweight prevalence in Ghana.