Use evidence to drive change – Maternal Health advocates urged

Director of the School of Communications Studies University of Ghana, Prof. Audrey Gadzekpo, has advised maternal and newborn health activists to effectively use evidence to demand accountability for the survival of pregnant women and their babies.

She was speaking at a two-day workshop held at the Mensvic Grand Hotel in East Legon on “policy analysis and strategic ways to communicate evidence”. The workshop, organized by the Alliance for Reproductive Health Rights under the auspices of the MamaYe Advocacy Coalition, brought together MNH activists and champions, media practitioners and parliamentarians.

Prof. Gadzekpo said: “knowing your audience is very critical in the communication process but having great content is just as important. We can achieve very little if our advocacy is not fuelled by evidence.”

She stressed the need for the activists to vigorously seek new evidence and communicate the information purposefully to specific audiences in order to hold decision makers accountable for actions or inactions on maternal health in Ghana.

“Gathering the right evidence and disseminating it without an in-depth knowledge of the different audiences could affect how this information is received. Many of us hasten to put the information out there, so we fail to reach out to the right people to make the kind of impact that leads to change,” she added.

Prof. Gadzekpo said the relationship between decision-makers, activists and the media is symbiotic: “If they are able to work together, we will get the best impact possible.”

The communications lecturer took participants through communication tools and platforms for effective public engagement. She admonished the advocates to adopt social media platforms to grow their influence in maternal health activism.

The Country Director of SEND Ghana, Mr George Bimpeh and the Executive Director of Centre for Health and Social Services, Dr. Tony Seddoh, were the other facilitators. They coached participants on policy analysis principles, processes and ways to effectively advocate for maternal and newborn health with evidence from policies and commitments made by Ghana.