First Lady named 'Nutrition Champion'

The African Leaders for Nutrition (ALN) initiative have named Ghana’s First Lady, Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo as the Nutrition Champion for Ghana.

Mrs. Akufo-Addo joins Hery Rajaonarimampianina, President of Madagascar, King Letsie III of the Kingdom of Lesotho, and Dr Howarth Bouis, Acting CEO of HarvestPlus as the 2018 Nutrition Champions.

The inauguration ceremony was conducted by Ghana’s former president, John Agyekum Kufuor, Founder of the John Agyekum Kufuor Foundation and Co-Chair of the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition as well and Co-founder of the African Leaders for Nutrition.

In her speech, Mrs Akufo-Addo said: “I acknowledge the instrumental role played by His Excellency John Agyekum Kufuor in the establishment of the African Leaders for Nutrition and for personally nominating me as an ALN Champion. His steadfast energy and commitment to development in Ghana and Africa, should inspire us all to create a better world for ourselves and future generations.”

She promised to “employ creative and ingenious strategies to achieve the ultimate goal of entrenching proper nutrition in Africa.”

Mrs Akufo-Addo noted that: “We are losing about a quarter of the continent’s future potential leaders to malnutrition”, therefore, “I consider it a great opportunity to be called upon by the African Leaders for Nutrition Initiative, to serve my dear country Ghana and Africa as a whole, in the capacity of Champion of Nutrition. It is a charge I do not take lightly.”

She expressed confidence that “eliminating malnutrition is achievable in our lifetime”.