18-6-2025
Breast milk will be available for mothers and fathers who want it in Ghana as a Human Milk Bank has been opened by the University of Ghana Medical Centre (UGMC).
Cecilia Obeng of the Indiana University, School of Public Health- Bloomington, USA initiated the programme, which is the first of its kind in Sub Sahara Africa. According to UCMC officials, it will afford families to have access to breast milk whenever needed.
Breastfeeding mothers will be the primary source and are expected to voluntarily donate, after which their deposit would be screened, stored and distributed.
Ghana’s Minister of Health Mr. Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, lauded the development stressing that with the Human Milk Bank lives of babies born prematurely and others in special need would be saved.
“It is during this crucial period of life that human milk serves as a life-saving intervention. Breast milk is not just food, it is medicine,” Mr. Kwabena Mintah Akandoh said.
“We also know that a significant number of facility-based deliveries, up to 15 percent, result in admissions to neonatal intensive care units, often due to low birth weight, prematurity, or birth-related complications.”