First Lady to attend Medshare gala

Ghana’s First Lady, Mrs. Lordina Mahama has attended this year’s Medshare Gala event in New York to support the poor and needy in the society.

The event which was the third annual gala, under the theme “Share the good gala night” attracted a cross section of people was used to support the efforts of Medshare, a United States non-governmental body that is dedicated to bridging the gap between the surplus and need to improve healthcare and the environment. Medshare collects unused medical supplies that are valuable for redistribution to health care facilities in medically underserved communities in the USA and abroad.

Mrs. Mahama, the special guest commended Medshare for its commitment to support the poor and needy and other vulnerable populations.

In this vein, the First Lady who is founder of the Lordina Foundation acknowledged her shared commitment with the mission of Medshare to bring relief to many communities and homes saying that “In Ghana, Medshare’s positive impact is being felt through the medical supplies and equipment that have been received by some of our communities”.

She noted that Medshare’s support had contributed greatly to the Ghana government’s efforts to make quality health care accessible to all people, pointing out that it had reflected in the significant progress Ghana had made in the provision of health facilities, and through the Community Based Health Planning and Services (CHIPS) compounds and health services to the remotest villages and hamlets.

Following great successes achieved through out Ghana in the CHIP compounds, Mrs. Mahama said the Government is working to complete another 1,600 units by the year 2016.

“Two weeks ago at the Mid-terms review of the GAVI Alliance, Ghana’s double immunization programme was celebrated, and we have also just two weeks ago, began a pilot project to vaccinate young girls to protect them against cervical cancer” she noted.

To achieve the full goals of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) on child mortality and maternal Health, the First Lady mentioned that Government had started the implementation of the MDG Acceleration Framework, and had dedicated itself to make resources available to address the challenges.

In this direction, she said that her Foundation, formally known as ASOIP had been at the forefront of health improvement advocacy and pledged to continue to support government’s efforts through behavioral change campaigns, support for rural health facilities and personnel apart from bringing attention to challenges being faced in the communities.

As part of emphasis on prevention of diseases rather than cure, she said there had been a number of community involvement and advocacy meetings apart from free HIV testing, breast and cervical cancer screening exercises.

Aside donating hospital equipment to health institutions across Ghana, the Lordina Foundation had also made medical supplies available to Members of Parliament for their constituency health facilities, Mrs. Mahama stated, explaining that “Our hospital equipment supply programme is informed by the realization that while there may be willing health personnel in many community health centres, the absence of some critical items like beds, sterilization units can hamper the delivery of health care”.

Mrs. Mahama announced that the Foundation had started a new institution, the Gambaga Women’s Training Institute to equip development and empowerment skills to young girls and women, to enable them to start their own businesses and lead improved lives.

Prof. Jeffrey Sachs, an Economist and Director of the Earth Institute assured Ghana of Medshares continues partnership and commended the tremendous efforts the country had made in her development efforts, describing it (Ghana) as the true gateway to West Africa, because Accra had become a model for modern development in Africa.

Considering current trends, he said Ghana and Africa are on the move as shown by latest growth statistics by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Sub-Saharan Africa had the fastest growing economies in the world and so predicted that “Africa will record between eight to 10 per cent growth”.

Recalling the devastating effects of the recent typhoon in the Philippines, Prof. Sachs who is the Special Advisor to the United Nations Secretary General on sustainable development attributed it to the climatic change.

He praised the numerous accomplishments that had been made in the world, since the MDG’s were launched 13 years ago by Mr. Kofi Annan, former Secretary General at the United Nations and urged the world to try and meet the goals in order to reduce poverty and hunger in the world.

Madam Sandy Tytel, chair of the North East Regional Council of Medshare praised Mrs. Lordina Mahama for her interest and commitment to improving the lot of the poor and needy in Ghana.

To this end, she underscored the importance of the collaboration between the Lordina Foundation and Medshare in order to help bring relief to people with various health needs.