Foreign Minister Lauds UNICEF Support to Ghana

The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, has assured the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) of the government's continuous partnership and cooperation in implementing programmes toward the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Agenda 2030.

She said the excellent relations between Ghana and the United Nations (UN) and its specialised agencies including UNICEF have helped the country in making considerable headway with the implementation of the SDGs.

Speaking in a meeting with the UNICEF Representative in Ghana, Anne-Claire Dufay in Accra yesterday, she commended the organization for particularly working cordially with the government to address key issues of concern faced by Ghanaian children.

Further to that, the minister expressed gratitude to UNICEF for its commitment to realising the rights of children globally toward survival, development and protection.

Sincesigning the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) thirty years ago, Madam Botchwey, indicated that Ghana had made tremendous progress toward promoting the rights of Children in the country, through the enactment of the Children's Act in 1998.

Enumerating some of the benefits of the cooperation between Ghana and UNICEF, she stated that improved immunization, micro-nutrient supplementation, malaria prevention and treatment of diarrhea had resulted in the reduction of the rate of mortality in children under the age of five in the last decade.

She said Ghana also recorded maternal health improvement and received to help to stop the transmission of guinea worm disease which led to the declaration of the country as guinea worm-free in 2015.

Additionally, she said UNICEF assisted in the restructuring of the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection and supported the Ghana Police Service in the implementation of the 'Integrating child friendly Policing into the Ghana Police Service' Initiative.

The minister noted that Ghana was ready to strengthen the collaborationover the years for the good of Ghanaians.

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