The second lady of Ghana will attend the WHO meeting on energy

Mrs. Samira Bawumia, the Second Lady, is scheduled to attend the second meeting of the World Health Organization-sponsored High-Level Coalition on Health and Energy.The event, which would take place in Geneva on October 7, would provide Coalition members with an opportunity to devise strategies for accelerating clean cooking and electrifying healthcare facilities across the globe.

At the Coalition’s first meeting, the Second Lady made significant contributions to the adoption of the Strategic Roadmap, earning her praise from the Director-General of WHO, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who praised her for replicating her powerful leadership under her Empowerment and Humanitarian Projects (SEHP) umbrella.In conjunction with Ashden, Sustainable Energy for All honored Hajia Samira as the first of seven individuals in 2019.

It emphasized her efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7 of the United Nations, which is to provide everyone with modern, dependable, renewable, and affordable energy by 2030.Again, Mrs. Bawumia was made an Ambassador for the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves. She joined other upcoming leaders like the late former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to work with the Alliance and its partners to raise awareness about household air pollution and encourage more people in developing countries to use clean cooking solutions. The goal is to make the world a cleaner place and get rid of deaths caused by pollution from burning solid fuels for cooking.Over 2.4 billion people, or about a third of the world’s population, cook on open fires or inefficient stoves powered by coal, biomass (wood, animal dung, and crop waste), or kerosene, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

In 2020, it was estimated that household air pollution was the cause of 3.2 million deaths per year, including over 237, 000 deaths of children under the age of five.To put this into perspective, household air pollution is worse than the combined deaths from HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis because of inefficient use of clean fuels and technologies.The majority of these individuals are poor and reside in countries with low or middle incomes, with severely skewed access to cleaner cooking options.In this vein, the Second Lady, Hajia Samira, has increased efforts to address the issue with her non-profit organization, SEHP.

The High-Level Coalition on Health and Energy was set up in 2019 by the WHO Director-General to strengthen cooperation between the health and energy sectors, increase political momentum, encourage investments, garner public support, and drive practical solutions.Twelve Ministers of Health and Energy, fourteen heads of international organizations (including UNICEF, GAVI, UNHCR, and UNDP), and two Health and Energy Champions make up the Coalition at the moment.To carry out its mandate and achieve maximum global impact, the Coalition intends to increase its membership.