Accra, Jan. 30, GNA - Health Minister, Major Courage Quashigah (rtd) on Tuesday said the Moringa plant held great promise to transform the nutritional and health status of the country's population. He noted that Ghana's health burden could be reduced when moringa was adopted as a nutritional supplement.
The Health Minister who was speaking at the inauguration of the Moringa Association of Ghana (MAG), called for appropriate modalities to be fashioned out into the research, process and packaging of the plant for use as alternative to imported vitamin and nutrient supplements administered in health facilities.
The Moringa plant christened as the 'Miracle Tree' and 'Green Gold", according to health experts, contains seven times vitamin c as compared to equivalent of weight of oranges; four times vitamin A as in carrots; four times calcium in cow's milk and three times the potassium in bananas as well as twice the protein in cow's milk and yoghurts. Moringa is said to have all the food nutrients required for the body and also prevents 300 diseases including hypertension and diabetes. The Methodist Church of Ghana has been involved in the promotion of Moringa since 2000.
Major Quashigah said God in his wisdom asked man to use plants and herbs but "we have failed to use this rich knowledge given to us by God and due to modernisation have discarded it and termed it satanic". He said Moringa was the best gift to Ghana as the country celebrated its 50th anniversary, adding that with the use of the plant, Ghanaians could live healthy long life.
Major Quashigah commended the Methodist Church for being at the forefront in promoting the plant.
Professor Agyeman Badu Akosa, Director General of Ghana Health Service, also noted that if Ghanaians had good drinking water; immunized their children under five with Moringa taking care of the nutrition problems, the country's health burden could be lessened. He pledged his support for the MAG and denied that orthodox practitioners did not want to have anything to do with traditional medicine and called on Ghanaians to go for the miracle tree for its benefits, which he described as amazing.
The Reverend Dr Aboagye-Mensah, Presiding Bishop of Methodist Church, Ghana, said the Church was promoting the plant as a theological mandate in preserving God's creation.
He noted: "I consider the plant as God's own Jubilee gift to us to heal our wounds which are bleeding with hunger, disease and abject poverty."
The Presiding Bishop said the Church was working out modalities on Moringa production to come out with a unique and acceptable product on the Ghanaian market and urged the Government to support the Association in its campaign on 'this good news of Moringa to all Ghanaians'. Mr Mozart Adevu, Chairman of MAG, said the Association sought to organise individuals, churches, institutions and business concerns into an umbrella body that would include producers, consumers, processors and researchers to speak on a common platform on issues of Moringa in order to influence policy on promotions, production, consumption and marketing of the products. 30 Jan. 07
