Courtesy call on Her Excellency the First Lady, Rebecca Akufo-Addo

Courtesy call on Her Excellency the First Lady, Rebecca Akufo-Addo

Dr Moeti also paid a courtesy call on Her Excellency the First Lady, Rebecca Akufo-Addo.  She commended the First Lady’s efforts in maternal and child health in Ghana, particularly among others her support for the construction of a Mother-Baby Unit for the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital to ease the congestion at the maternity unit and improve outcomes for mothers and newborns. 

The Regional Director mentioned that the current rate of maternal mortality rate for Ghana was still too high and therefore the need to improve the quality of care to impact on the health outcomes and reduce mortalities.

The First lady mentioned that the high MMR in Ghana was of great concern to her and her NGO (Rebecca Foundation) has rolled out a number of initiatives throughout the country to address this.  Key amongst them was the construction of health posts in very deprived communities, monthly community health outreaches, provision of family planning services for adolescents, infantile malaria prevention among others.

Dr Moeti applauded the First Lady and said these were innovative approaches for promoting primary health care and must be sustained.  She was particularly happy about the work the First Lady was doing to promote adolescent health. 

Dr Moeti mentioned that she had paid a courtesy call on His Excellency the President and was very much impressed with the way he articulated his vision for Ghana and his Government’s priority of ensuring basic health services and education for all Ghanaians.  She was of the opinion that the President was well placed to do extend his advocacy for mobilization domestic funding to the AU.

Finally Dr Moeti again commended the First lady for her advocacy efforts towards the extension of maternity leave from 12 weeks to at least 14 weeks.  She also recommended the setting up of breast feeding corners at workplaces to support exclusive breastfeeding initiatives for babies.

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