First Lady Rebecca Akufo- Addo has called on the Ghana Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and other stakeholders to take the necessary actions to ensure Ghana meets her nutritional goals and achieves optimum health for all.
Speaking at the opening session of a two-day congress, the First Lady said: “There is an urgent need to ensure that the poor and vulnerable among us 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 added.
The congress was held on the theme “Synchronizing the Frontiers of Nutrition and Dietetics for sustainable National Impact.”
Gains
Referencing the 2020 Global Nutrition Report, the First Lady indicated that there is still a lot of work to be done. This is despite the fact that Ghana is on track to achieving the global targets for maternal, infant and young child nutrition. Ghana has also made some progress towards reducing anaemia among women of reproductive age, low birth weight of new born infants and stunting of children under five years.
She 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 therefore urged all stakeholders 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.
Korle-Bu lounge
In another development, the First Lady yesterday commissioned a new waiting lounge at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra.
The 150-seater capacity lounge was constructed by the First Atlantic Bank upon a request by Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo. It will serve visitors and relatives of patients detained at the Emergency wards of the hospital, which are the Accident Emergency Department, Trauma Unit and the Paediatric Intensive Care Units.
The First Lady recalled the commissioning of the Rebecca Akufo-Addo Paediatric Intensive care Unit, constructed by the Rebecca Foundation in May 2019. She observed with worry that Korle-Bu lacked a decent waiting area for visitors and relatives of patients who were detained at the hospital’s emergency wards.
She said the sad state of already traumatized visitors having to wait under trees and other uncomfortable places for news of their hospitalized loved ones moved her to work through the Rebecca Foundation to request the First Atlantic Bank to provide a decent waiting area to offer comfort, safety, peace of mind and protection against the vagaries of the weather to visitors and relatives of the hospital’s patients.
