The First Lady of the Republic of Ghana, H. E. Mrs. Rebecca Naa Okaikor Akufo- Addo has called for pragmatic solutions to tackle the significant numbers of hungry, obese, and micro- nutrient-deficient people in the country.
According to her, COVID-19 has exposed the weakness of our food systems, and it is time to build a resilient system that works and can withstand shocks.
Presenting the keynote address for the launch of Ghana’s inception meeting in preparation towards the UN Food Systems Summit under the theme, ” Towards Resilience for Improved Food Security and Nutrition”, the First lady said, we need to build those robust systems that are needed despite our progress made so far.
“Today’s inception meeting is yet another platform for Ghana, to build those robust systems that are needed. Access to safe, affordable, and healthy diets is a basic necessity of life. Not acting simply means we are condemning a large portion of our population to misery and death. We are also toying with our National development agenda if we fail to act now”, she said.
She also took the opportunity to call for the collective action of all stakeholders for a strong inter-sectoral linkage and cooperation.
According to her, the collaboration will generate innovative forward-thinking interventions, to challenge the existing policy framework.
“It is my prayer that all key stakeholders will get the opportunity to participate in all dialogues to improve nutrition and promote healthy diets,” she said.