Ghana’s first lady Rebecca Akufo-Addo was on Monday inaugurated as a Nutrition Champion by the African Leaders for Nutrition.This is in recognition of her work and commitment to sound nutrition and the wellbeing of mothers and infants.
The first lady joins other Nutrition Champions enlisted in 2018: His Excellency Hery Rajaonarimampianina of Madagascar, His Majesty King Letsie III of the Kingdom of Lesotho and Acting CEO of HarvestPlus, Howarth Bouis.
Speaking at a ceremony in Accra, Rebecca Akufo-Addo who described her nomination an honour, said: “Of the basic necessities in life, I consider none more profoundly critical to humanity’s collective development and wellbeing than good nutrition. The time has come for us to deal a definitive blow to malnutrition in Africa.”
African Development Bank Director of Human Capital Youth and Skills Department Oley Dibba-Wadda, described the appointment as “a high-profile addition to our network of Nutrition Champions that will drive forward the ALN, to ensure Africa’s food systems and diets support good nutrition”.
Akuffo Addo has initiated several campaigns to promote the welfare of women and girls in Ghana. Her Save A Child, Save A Mother project, raised US$ 2million for a state-of-the-art mother and baby unit at the government Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi, Ghana, helping to ease severe congestion.
Former President of Ghana and Global Panel Co-Chair, H.E. John Kufuor described the appointment as a welcome development, saying: “she will provide the necessary leadership to ensure African Food Systems are repositioned from feeding people to nourishing people”.
Many African countries are addressing the issue of malnutrition. Between 2003 and 2014, Ghana was able to reduce stunting from 35% to 19% between 2003 and 2014. While that is commendable more still needs to be done. Malnutrition through poor-quality diets is a greater public health threat than malaria, tuberculosis or measles.
According to United Nations figures, 7.1% of African children under 5 are wasted and 30% are stunted. At the same time the number of overweight children and adults is increasing. 41% of African men and 26% of women are overweight.
African countries are experiencing an emerging ‘triple burden’ of malnutrition, where individuals concurrently lack enough basic calories, are micronutrient deficient, or suffer from being overweight or obese with associated diet-related non-communicable diseases. Poor diets through inadequate food systems are at the heart of this.
The ALN initiative is a platform for high-level advocacy and engagement to advance nutrition in Africa, endorsed by the Assembly of Heads of State and Governments of the African Union (AU). It is led by ALN
Champions, comprising current and former Heads of State, Finance Ministers and eminent leaders recognized for their ability to catalyze and sustain efforts to end malnutrition in Africa.
