SEND-Ghana holds dialogue on maternal mortality

SEND-Ghana, a civil society organisation, on Thursday held a national policy dialogue with stakeholders aimed at reducing maternal mortality and improve Community-Based Planning and Services (CHPS) to facilitate proper health care.

The theme for the meeting: “Halting Needless Death of Women: The Need for Priority Investments in Maternal Health Care Delivery in Ghana’’ was to ensure that enough support is given to pregnant women.

Mr Siapha Kamara, Chief Executive Officer of Send-West Africa, said promoting policies of maternal health would impact on healthcare delivery in the country. He said it is imperative for government to work to eliminate disparities in access to basic medical and health delivery as well as ensure the effectiveness of the CHPS strategy in meeting the health needs of rural dwellers.

This, he said, would provide quality primary healthcare to its clients who depend on the kind of services it is providing and how relevant these services are to client’s needs.

Mr Kamara, however, noted that the mere establishment of CHPS compound in communities without the needed logistics would lead to regressive outcomes and as such called on government and stakeholders to work to support the initiative.

Mr Charles Adjei Acquah, Acting Deputy Director in charge of Policy of Ghana Health Service (GHS), thanked SEND-GHANA for the initiative, adding that government has been on its toes in addressing maternal healthcare and community-based planning service related problems to ensure the safety of pregnant women and the sick.

He said government had not reneged on its responsibility to provide quality healthcare as a signatory to the MDGs and the Abuja Declaration, which enjoins nations to among other things reduce maternal mortality and to devote 15 per cent of its annual budget to healthcare.

He said human resource is also an important tool in service delivery and there are plans to improve the situation.