Vice President Prof. Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang has called for stronger, coordinated national action to place the welfare of children at the centre of Ghana’s development agenda, describing child protection and development as both a moral imperative and a strategic investment in the nation’s future.

Speaking at the Government of Ghana’s Strategic Planning Retreat (SPR) in Akosombo on Wednesday (28 January), the Vice President commended participants for developing practical solutions to challenges hindering the full realisation of development outcomes for children and adolescents.

She acknowledged Ghana’s progress in child welfare, noting that the country has achieved average vaccination coverage of between 95 and 97 percent in the first year of life, while fully meeting its core immunisation financing obligations in 2025.

She also cited improved school enrollment and completion rates, narrowing rural-urban disparities, and declining child marriage rates in parts of the country.

Despite these gains, Prof. Opoku-Agyemang warned that significant challenges remain, including over 60,000 children living and working on the streets, low birth registration in some areas, and persistent deprivation in health, education, nutrition, water, sanitation, housing and protection. She said these conditions expose children to violence and exploitation and threaten Ghana’s long-term development aspirations.

The Vice President highlighted emerging pressures such as climate change and technological disruption, stressing the need for deliberate, child-centred reforms. She outlined government initiatives including the Care Reform Roadmap, which shifts child welfare from institutional care to family-based alternatives, coordinated social services to harmonise protection, education, health and justice interventions, adolescent safe spaces, and the Ghana Against Child Abuse campaign.

She stressed that children’s needs cut across all sectors and cannot be confined to a single ministry, urging collaboration among government, civil society, the private sector, development partners, traditional and faith leaders.

Prof. Opoku-Agyemang called on the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) to establish a robust mechanism to track commitments made during the retreat, noting that implementation and accountability are critical to real impact.

“The way a society treats its children reveals its soul,” she said, urging all stakeholders to prioritise child-centred policies and attitudes to ensure that every child grows up safe, healthy and well-educated.