Mrs Akufo-Addo speaks at the event
The First Lady, Rebecca Naa Okaikor Akufo-Addo, has made a clarion call on Ghanaians to take actions, build consensus and provide the needed funding to help end children dying from malnutrition, malaria or other preventable illness in Ghana.
She noted that the Covid-19 pandemic and its related challenges could lead to nutrition crisis due to disruption of food supply adding there was, therefore, the need to promote and safeguard food and nutrition security.
Speaking at the just-ended Nutrition Advocate Event, the First Lady vowed to work hard towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by ensuring the decline in the prevalence of malnutrition and its resultant ill-health and death among children.
“I wish to restate my resolve that no child should die from malnutrition, malaria or other preventable illness in Ghana. So, together with the Malaria Prevention Foundation, our partners and stakeholders, I stand committed to the task that is ahead of us,” she said.
Support
She pledged her support for a campaign started by the Ghana Health Service, dubbed “Start Right, Feed Right”, aimed at helping to improve the quality of children’s diet and to keep the country on the path to meeting global nutrition targets.
“We should continue to strengthen school based interventions. We should provide safe potable water, health nutrition, hygiene and infection prevention education. We must continue to intensify our efforts to promote six months exclusive breastfeeding for all children,” she said.
Present at the event were the Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyemang Manu; Director General of Ghana Health Service, Patrick Kuma-Aboagye; Country Representatives of WHO, Dr Francis Chisaka Kasolo and a representative from Infanta Malaria Prevention Foundation.
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