The Ghana National Eggs Campaign Secretariat (GNECS) has donated eggs to the La-Wireless Cluster of Schools and the Accra Psychiatric Hospital at separate events to mark this year’s World Eggs Day.
Madam Comfort Kyerewa Acheampong, Coordinator of the GNECS, who made the presentation, said it was important to eat an egg a day to enhance one’s health.
An egg a day will surely put the doctor away,” she said, adding: “It is because of this that we are encouraging people to eat egg because it is full of nutrients.”
She said egg was complete food and “when you eat it in the morning, you are full,” and appealed to parents to try to give an egg a day to their wards to keep them healthy.
Kwabena Kusi, a Public Health Specialist with the Ghana Health Service enumerate several benefits of eggs to both the school pupils of La-Wireless Cluster of Schools and the Accra Psychiatric Hospital. He explained that egg contain choline which helps with brain development and this is particularly important for children as well as the inmates of the psychiatric hospital adding that they must be encouraged to eat egg regularly.
He stressed that egg is rich in proteins and has a lot of vitamins including vitamin A and D which are good for eyesight and bone development respectively. He added at the age of six months a child can start consuming eggs
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He mentioned that eating eggs regularly also helps in hair growth and the improvement in blood circulation.
On her part, the president of the apex body of the Women in Poultry Value Chain WIPVaC, Dr. Victoria Norgbey, challenged poultry farmers to produce healthy poultry products because unsafe poultry products have implications on the health of consumers.
As soon as farmers recognize certain changes in their birds including deaths, droppings etc, they should quickly report to the veterinary service for assistance… for our consumers please just cook your eggs and all poultry products well to avoid any complications,” she stressed.
The Programme Officer-Agriculture at Ghana School Feeding (GSF), Seth Offei, acknowledged the contribution of GNECS towards the success of the school feeding programme. He said, the GNECS has trained caterers of the programme.
Today’s donation is also aimed at improving the health of the pupils, enrollment, which has positive implication on domestic production of poultry and poultry products thereby improving the economy,” he noted.
Receiving the eggs on behalf of the school, the Head Teacher La-Wireless 3, 4 primary, Rebecca Quartey, expressed gratitude to the GNECS and the Ghana School Feeding Secretariat for the gesture.
The Public Relations Officer of the Accra Psychiatric Hospital, Francisca Ntow, was excited that the hospital was chosen to be part of the celebration. Acknowledging the importance of eggs, she assured that inmates will have the full benefits of the eggs.
Activities to mark World Egg Day
This year’s celebration, themed “Egg for all: nature’s perfect package”, marks the 25th anniversary of world egg day which is being celebrated in 14 countries across the world.
GNECS expressed appreciation to Ampofo, Isaac Gyabaa, Harimat Farms, Meanan Foods and WIPVaC for providing eggs to support the celebration.
World Egg Day, was established by the International Egg Commission (IEC) as every second Friday in October to celebrate and promote the health and environmental benefits of eating eggs.
The IEC was formed in 1964 in order to give a global presence to egg producers and to promote and popularize egg.