Mrs Akufo-Addo in a virtual meeting during the seminar
The First Lady, Rebecca Naa Okaikor Akufo- Addo, has made a passionate call to the Ghana Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and other relevant stakeholders to take the necessary actions to ensure Ghana meets her nutritional goals and achieves optimum health for all.
She made the appeal when she delivered a speech at the opening session of a two-day congress on the theme ‘Synchronizing the Frontiers of Nutrition and Dietetics for sustainable National Impact’.
She said there is an urgent need to ensure that the poor and vulnerable have access to the needed knowledge, resources, and services to achieve optimum nutrition.
“This calls for a great deal of work, which needs to be carried out within a very limited timeframe,” she said.
2020 nutrition report
Referencing the 2020 Global Nutrition Report, the First Lady indicated that although Ghana is on track to achieving the global targets for maternal, infant and young child nutrition, and had made some progress towards reducing anaemia among women of reproductive age, low birth weight of new born infants and stunting of children under 5 years, there is still a lot of work to be done.
The First Lady said, despite these gains, Ghana still has not made much progress towards exclusive breastfeeding, reducing stunting and wasting in children and curbing diet related non-communicable diseases such as adult obesity and diabetes.
Mrs Akufo- Addo urged all relevant stakeholders, including the Ministries of Health, Finance and Food and Agriculture to make adequate investments to ensure optimal nutrition in the critical 1000 day window, between the start of a woman’s pregnancy and her child’s second birthday, and to ensure the poor and vulnerable are supported to achieve optimum health.
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