Child Rights International (CRI), a child-centred organisation, has commended the First Lady, Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo, for her continuous commitment and support towards the wellbeing of children and mothers in the country.
The organisation particularly mentioned two projects put up by the First Lady in Kumasi and Accra under the Rebecca Foundation as exceptional gestures from the First Lady and her team.
A statement by the CRI to the Daily Graphic in Accra said the work of the first lady deserved applause.
Welfare
“The welfare principle of the Children’s Act emphasises the need for all persons to make the best interest of children paramount in matters that concern them. The gesture by the First Lady to personally mobilise resources to defend the best interest of children is commendable,” the statement said.
The statement was signed by the Executive Director of CRI, Mr Bright Kweku Appiah.
Background
The Rebecca Foundation has, since last year, been rolling out various programmes and interventions to help improve the wellbeing of children and mothers.
The foundation, last year, launched a project to inculcate the culture of reading in children in support of efforts to build a highly literate society.
During the same year, in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region, the foundation inaugurated a Mother and Baby Unit with a Paediatric Intensive Care section at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital. The facility was put up at a cost of GH¢10 million.
Earlier this year, the foundation again inaugurated a modern Paediatric Intensive Care Unit for the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra.
The 41-bed facility is the first of its kind in the history of the hospital.
These projects, the statement said, would go a long way to address the basic challenges that “affect children’s growth and at the same time help to alleviate the plight of the mothers of children at the hospital.”
CRI pushes
Touching on the hospital project put up by the foundation, the statement said the First Lady had exhibited that she understood the pains of motherhood and that mothers ought to be given the best of health care.
“The right to health is a basic fundamental right of all children and, therefore, any effort at achieving such a goal must be welcomed and accepted,” the statement said.
On the reading projects, the statement noted that the initiative from the First Lady would go a long way to improve on the reading habits of children and ultimately shape their knowledge as future leaders.
“CRI sees these projects as a good cause and would, therefore, applaud the First Lady for it,” it added.
The statement said the organisation was willing and ready to extend any hand of support to the foundation in carrying out its initiatives of helping improve the wellbeing of children.
The statement also urged the First Lady to continue her effort in the promotion of children’s rights to health, while urging the media to promote intervention of individuals who were working hard to promote the welfare of children in the country.
Source: Graphic.com.gh
