By Busayo Onijala
Lagos – Mothers2mothers (M2M), an African not-for-profit organisation, in partnership with the British Airways {BA} has continued to give life–saving health services to thousands of Ghanaian children .
Tiarhan Oghenejode of QuadrantMSL.com the agency that handles the media activities of BA stated this in a statement she made available to the News Agency of Nigeria {NAN} on Monday in Lagos.
She said that the NGO through funding support it received from the British Airways had trained and employed some Ghanaian women living with HIV as “Mentor Mothers.”
NAN reports that Mothers2mothers is an NGO was founded in Cape Town in Ghana in 2001.
The statement added, “M2M’s services are also designed to ensure children get the best start in life, which means being born HIV-free and receiving an essential package of early childhood development (ECD) services.’’
The statement also quoted the President and CEO of the NGO, Frank Beadle de Palomo, to have said that no fewer than 11,000 women and children below age three were expected to benefit from the programme in the next two years.
It quoted him to have spoken at the launch of the organisation in Accra, Ghana.
He said, “We are delighted that Ghana has become the first West African member of the m2m family, and the ninth country in which we are working.
“Our community-led model delivers results and we’ve helped to almost end mother-to-child transmission of HIV for our clients for five years in a row.
“Ninety seven per cent of those enrolled in our ECD services in 2017 achieved all of their milestones by their first birthday.
“Thanks to British Airways and Comic Relief, we are confident we can play our part to ensure a healthy, thriving future in Ghana”, he said.
He said that the organization launched M2M in Ghana because the country had adopted the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF’s Nurturing Care For Early Childhood Development framework.
“However, Ghana’s youngest citizens still face significant challenges, as more than 3,000 new HIV infections were recorded among infants and children in 2017,’’ he said.
He added that more than one in four young Ghanaian children was lagging in language, cognitive, physical and socio-emotional development.
“M2M will be tackling these challenges by promoting responsive parenting and nurturing care to parents and caregivers of HIV-exposed and other vulnerable young children.’’
Also, the Chairman of British Airways, Alex Cruz, said that as a global airline, they brought people together every day.
“We are committed to having a positive impact in the communities to which we fly.
“Our support to M2M, through our Flying Start partnership with Comic Relief, is a shining example of what can be achieved in Ghana and in the other African countries where it operates.
“Mothers2mothers truly is an African success story and we are very proud to support it,” he said.
The statement described Flying Start as a British Airways global charity partnership with Comic Relief, launched in 2010 and focuses on helping disadvantaged young people have a better start in life.
The statement also quoted Ruth Davison, the Interim CEO of Comic Relief, as commending M2M for being a fantastic example of an organisation that empowered local leaders to help, educate and elevate communities.
“I am delighted that our funding partnership with British Airways has helped M2M bring its vitally important services to Ghana.
“We are proud to have supported their work over the last 11 years as they have created over 10,000 jobs for women living with HIV and improved the lives of more than 11 million women and young children.”
(NAN)
