An estimated 2.5 million girls across all 16 regions of the country are now regularly reached with iron and folic acid (IFA) supplements to address the health threat which mainly affects women and children. Achieved under its Girl's Iron-Folate Tablet Supplementa­tion (GIFTS) programme, this has led to the reduction in the preva­lence of anaemia among adoles­cent girls by 26 per cent between 2017 and 2022, according to the Ghana Health Service (GHS). At a dissemination meeting of an impact assessment on the GIFTS programme in Accra, yesterday, it came to light that from 49 per cent in 2017, anaemia rates have declined to 44 per cent by 2022. In a speech read on his behalf, the Director-General of the GHS, Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, said adolescent health had long-term implications on national develop­ment, hence the need for targeted interventions like GIFTS to ensure they grow to realise their full potential. He said the benefit of the pro­gramme was not only to improve health and academic performance of girls but reduce maternal mortality in the long-run which was a major health problem in the country. "It would interest you to know that in Ghana, one of the top caus­es of maternal mortality, that is women who die related to pregnan­cy, is postpartum haemorrhage. "Interventions to reduce anae­mia among girls will ultimately lead to low prevalence of anaemia among women who become preg­nant and then in the long-term, women will now have lower prev­alence of anaemia at the time of delivery contributing ultimately to reducing postpartum haemorrhage and also maternal deaths," he said.