The First Lady, Mrs. Rebecca Akufo-Addo on Saturday participated in the Steering Committee meeting of the Organisation of African First Ladies against HIV/AIDS, (OAFLA) underway in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, as the Representative of the West African Block that are members of the august Organisation.
Ghana was elected onto the Steering Committee of the OAFLA for a two year term in July 2017, during the maiden meeting of Mrs Akufo-Addo as the first Lady of Ghana.
The Steering Committee meeting is attended by two representatives from each of the five regions, comprising of the Northern, Southern, Western, Eastern, and Central parts of Africa.
Ghana and Burkina Faso represent the West African Region on the Committee. However, her Burkinabe counterpart was absent from the Committee Session on Saturday.
Other First Ladies that participated in the Steering Committee meeting chaired by Mrs Roman Tesfaye, First Lady of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, who doubles as the Chairperson of OAFLA, include Mrs Margaret Gakuo Kenyatta, the Kenyan First Lady and Mrs Hinda Deby Itno, the Chadian First Lady.
The Steering Committee meeting, forms a crucial part of the two day ongoing 20th Ordinary General Assembly of OAFLA, that enabled the Committee members to discuss the recommendations of the Technical Advisers of the various member countries, to review a designed Communique that would be issued at the close of the session, and also to adopt the General Assembly’s Agenda.
The session is being held as usual, on the margins of the African Union (AU) Assembly of Heads of State that is hosted in Addis Ababa.
The OAFLA General Assembly, held twice every year, allows the First Ladies to brief each other about what they have been doing to sustain and win the fight against HIV and AIDS in their respective countries as well as for the OAFLA Secretariat to brief members on what it had done and how they had supported country offices to improve upon their HIV response.
The 20th session has the theme: “Transforming Africa through Prioritising Children, Adolescents and Mothers in the Fight against HIV”.
Source: Ghana/Starrfmonline.com/103.5FM
