The First Lady of the Republic Mrs. Rebecca Akufo-Addo has called for increased collaboration among key stakeholders in the health sector in a concerted effort towards achieving universal health coverage.
According to her, working with two Foundations, The Rebecca Foundation and the Infanta Malaria Prevention Foundation has informed her that we can only be effective, when we build partnerships and coalitions.
“I am therefore glad that both the Infanta Malaria Prevention Foundation and the Rebecca foundation, are part of a community of organizations with a shared objective of achieving universal health coverage in reproductive, newborn, child and adolescent health and nutrition.”
The First Lady said this when she delivered the keynote address at the opening of the First Maternal Child Health and Nutrition Conference in Accra.
She called on participants to be reminded that the subject of focus that is reproductive, newborn child health and nutrition remains core health concerns.
“Let us also be reminded that the effective management of proven interventions and programmes, is a sure way, to reduce the prevailing burden of maternal, newborn and child illnesses and deaths.”
On early childhood development, she said “every Ghanaian child must not only survive, but be provided everything needed to ensure their total physical, emotional and cognitive development. I urge all of us to give this due consideration in our deliberations.”
Citing a general improvement of health of the Ghanaian populace, she attributed it partly to the considerable increase in coverage of services to vulnerable groups such as antenatal care, access to skilled care during delivery, and babies being put to the breast immediately after delivery.
However, she bemoaned the fact that “a large number of children, young adolescents and women, continue to die or live with disabilities mostly from preventable causes” and called for more work to be done.
Continuing Mrs. Akufo-Addo charged participants to begin to be mindful of the fact that health service delivery must be based client-centered.
She explained that pursuing Client-oriented healthcare is one of the reasons the Rebecca Foundation, is constructing a modern Paediatric Intensive Care Unit at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital.
It is my fervent hope that it will improve the working conditions of doctors and nurses and ultimately contribute to addressing the gap in quality of care and ensure improved healthcare to our children at this facility.
She commended health sector players, including the Ghana Health Service, Ministry of Health, health partners and other stakeholders and called on them who continue to commit to protecting the lives of Ghanaians.
