Ghana performs poorly in maternal health

Accra, Oct. 28, GNA- Reports have shown that Ghana poorly performed in improving maternal health as a requirement for the attainment of the Millennium Development Goal.

Ms Elizabeth Agyeman, Member for Oforikrom, who said this in a statement she delivered in Parliament, added that Ghana has only five years ahead to make the 2015 deadline. She said the preventable death of many Ghanaian women and others around the globe constitute human right violation and development challenge of the time.

She stated that globally, 500,000 women died during childbirth or complications during child birth with the majority from Africa while million more suffered disabilities caused by complications. Ms Agyeman said at the Women Deliver (WD) Conference in Washington DC this year, participants established that most maternal deaths were preventable and that the health solutions to prevent maternal deaths were readily available and cost effective.

She noted that ensuring access to modern contraception to every woman who needed it, the provision of adequate health facilities, skilled birth attendants and health professionals, better provision for emergency treatment and improved logistics for rapid improvement of complicated cases were all requirements for improving delivery care. She called for intensified education for pregnant women on the importance of recognizing danger signs and seeking early care and the provision of universal access to reproductive health services. She said the women in Parliament had launched a fund in collaboration with MTN to refurbish the Korle-Bu maternity theatre. She congratulated Hajia Mary Issaaka, a 53 year old Ghanaian midwife from Zorkor, a village in the Bongo district in the Upper East Region for emerging as the International Midwife Champion of the year in the recently ended WD conference.

Commenting on the statement, Dr Benjamin Kunbuor, Minister of Health, identified three delays such as lack of health facilities, deficit in distance and non availability of health personnel which were fatal to maternal health.

He said traditional and orthodox medicines had not improved the situation and called for a rethink of the two means of seeking health care for the people.

Dr Richard Anane, Member for Nhyiaeso, said women must be educated to the highest level adding that when that was done, it would impact on the society positively.

He also called for a drastic improvement in agriculture since access to good food could make women healthy as they eat the right food when they were pregnant.