UNFPA partners Ghana Government to fight maternal mortality

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Ghana is collaborating with the Government of Ghana (GoG) to fight maternal mortality in five regions of the country with very high rates.

The programme would be implemented in 25 districts across the five beneficiary regions comprising Upper West, Upper East, Northern, Brong Ahafo and the Ashanti Regions.

Nadowli, Sissala East and Wa West Districts are the three beneficiary districts from the Upper West Region.

Ms. Dennia Gayle, acting UNFPA Country Representative, disclosed this during the phase-two of the GoG/UNFPA Country Programme Six (CP6) Implementation Strategy District Technical Presentation in Wa on Monday.

Ms. Gayle pointed out that the health sector had been overburdened with a lot of issues making it quite impossible for it to comprehensively address the challenges confronting the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on health by 2015, hence the need for external bodies to support.

She said with an annual budget of 3.9 million dollars, the UNFPA was committed to supporting that cause through the provision of the necessary resources for a period of 45 years beginning from this year.

The acting UNFPA Country Representative said the beneficiary districts were required to identify problems affecting their performance in the fight against maternal mortality which would then be shared among other partners based on their technical proficiency.

Ms. Gayle said District Assemblies and Traditional rulers were going to be deeply involved in the implementation process.

Alhaji Amidu Sulemana, Upper West Regional Minister, commended UNFPA for supporting the government to fight maternal mortality.

He urged all stakeholders to help in the implementation process to enable the programme to achieve its purpose.

Dr. Alexis Nang-beifubah, Upper West Regional Director of Health Services said a total of 15 maternal mortality cases were recorded during the half year of 2010/11 with 11 cases within the same period of 2012.

He described the GoG/UNFPA programme as comprehensive, saying it would help reduce maternal mortality drastically in the coming years, if effectively implemented.