The African Development Foundation (ADF) and the Helping Africa Foundation (HAF) co-hosted a high-profile fundraising gala in New York to mobilise global support for the Lordina Foundation’s maternity and child health initiatives in Ghana.

The event attracted philanthropists, diplomats, healthcare advocates, and members of the Ghanaian diaspora, all united by a shared mission: to improve maternal and infant health outcomes across the country.

Delivering the keynote address, Mrs Lordina Dramani Mahama, Ghana's First Lady, highlighted the urgent need for investment in maternal care, painting a vivid picture of the challenges faced by Ghanaian women.

She stressed that the foundation’s work was not just about numbers but about saving lives and restoring hope.

“Our greatest reward is not measured by figures, but by the smiles we bring to the faces we help and the change in the conditions of the groups we assist,” she said.

“This is why the Lordina Foundation is motivated by a single mission: to restore hope and empower lives, one family, one community at a time.”

Mrs Mahama, who has championed maternity health for years, expressed her personal connection to the cause, citing the tragic statistics that continue to demand urgent action.

According to Ghana’s Ministry of Health, more than 3,000 babies die every month before reaching their first birthday, while the infant mortality rate stands at 52 deaths per 1,000 live births.

Maternal mortality is recorded at 103 per 100,000 births, with rates even higher in the northern regions.

“No mother, anywhere, should face childbirth gripped by fear for her life or her baby. It is an injustice we cannot, and we must not accept,” she emphasised.

Reflecting on the origins of her initiative, Mrs Mahama credited her husband, President John Dramani Mahama, for his unwavering support.

“When I began these projects, John was in opposition. He was not the president of Ghana. We could have minded our own business. But he agreed with me that these are essential needs for our people. With his support and that of friends, we constructed our first 45-bed maternity and children’s ward at the Bole District Hospital in the Savanna Region,” the first lady recalled.

Since then, the foundation has expanded its impact, constructing three state-of-the-art maternity and children’s wards in Bole, Nkoranza, and Bodom, while also renovating vital facilities such as the Hohoe Adabraka Health Centre.

These modern facilities now provide safe delivery spaces, theatres, delivery rooms, Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs), and critical medical equipment for hospitals across the country.

The New York fundraiser is expected to further strengthen the foundation’s mission of safeguarding the lives of mothers and children in Ghana, while rallying global partners to join the cause.