First Lady Attends 22nd Ordinary General Assembly In Addis Ababa

First Lady, Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo is in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, ahead of the 22nd Ordinary General Assembly of the Organisation of African First Ladies Against HIV/AIDS (OAFLA).

Among the highlights of events that the participating first ladies would be discussing and affirming at the general assembly would be the change of name of OAFLA to the Organisation of African First Ladies for Development (OAFLAD) and the launch of its 2019 to 2023 strategic plan.

As part of Mrs Akufo-Addo's itinerary, she attended a debriefing meeting involving Ghana's technical advisory committee from the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC) to the OAFLA, who had earlier participated in the technical sessions of the organisation.

Mr Steve Kyeremeh Atuahene, the acting Director General of the GAC, who briefed Mrs Akufo-Addo on the happenings of the technical sessions held earlier, said with the change of the name from OAFLA to OAFLAD, the first ladies would now be working in six thematic areas instead of mainly HIV and AIDS.

He mentioned the new areas of operation for the OAFLAD members as non-communicable diseases (NCDs), gender equality, women and youth empowerment, Reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health (RMNCH), Social security and protection including; persons with disabilities, institutional capacity strengthening as well as HIV/AIDS.

Mr Atuahene said with the new outlook of the organisation, it was now looking at vulnerable populations with each first lady expected to work within the broad thematic areas to align themselves to the new OAFLAD 2019 to 2023 Strategic Plan.

He said with their new directions, it was expected that more donor funding would be ready to finance activities of OAFLAD.

He gave the assurance that the OAFLA secretariat would work closely with member states on their operational plans which would be country specific, depending on national priorities and interests of the various First Ladies.

Mrs Akufo-Addo on her part, expressed her delight at the expansion of the scope of the organisation saying so far, all the areas that she was working on in the country were all aligned to the new strategic plan of OAFLAD.

She expressed her commitment to work to better the lives of the vulnerable in society as well as promoting the Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV/AIDS, girl's literacy and maternal and neonatal health among others.

Also, at the debriefing was Dr. Mokowa Blay Adu-Gyamfi, Government Advisor on HIV and AIDS, who is the immediate past Director General of the GAC.

In a related development, Mrs Akufo-Addo, as a member of OAFLA's steering committee has participated in a meeting where her Kenyan counterpart, Mrs Margaret Kenyatta was elected in absentia, as the vice President of the organisation.

GNA