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The Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Nana Oye Lithur has on behalf of the African Continent applauded UNICEF for remaining committed to improving the welfare and wellbeing of children around the world. In a speech at the Annual Session of the United Nations Children�s Fund (UNICEF) Executive Board held at the UN Secretariat in New York, USA, Nana Oye Lithur noted the decline in under-five deaths, percentage of underweight children, new HIV infections, number of out-of-school children and increased access to drinking water and sanitation as a result of UNICEF�s collaboration with Governments around the world. She however observed that Africa still carried the burden of the highest percentage of under-five mortality, neonatal deaths, out of school children, malnourished, undernourished and stunted children. Nana Oye Lithur underscored the commitment of African States to working closely with UNICEF to address these challenges, noting that, �Africa was on the rise with fast-growing economies, greater ambition and commitment of its Governments to improving the lives of its people�. The Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, however, called for appeal to �increase its investment in strengthening national capacity to collect and analyse data, scale up the engagement of UNICEF country offices with national authorities to facilitate knowledge and experience sharing, and enhance expertise. Aside the UNICEF Executive Board Meeting, Hon. Nana Oye Lithur took the opportunity to hold high-level meetings with key officials responsible for child protection and social protection in UNICEF and other UN Agencies with the aim of strengthening Ghana�s legal and policy framework for the protection of children and other vulnerable groups as well as the institutional growth of the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection.