04-02-14
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| Pregnant woman being screened by a qualified midwife |
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The
country’s quest of achieving the Millennium Development Goal MDG 5 which is on
maternal mortality will not be attainable if collective efforts are not made to
quicken the pace towards reaching the 2015 target. The Acting Upper East
Regional Director of Health Services, Lucio Dery, who made the observation in
an interview with Radio Ghana, said though the country has made significant progress
towards achieving MDG five, more needs to be done to ensure its realization. He
said the health sector in the region places high premium on maternal and infant
mortality and is putting in place measures aimed at ensuring that no woman dies
whiles giving birth. He said, excessive bleeding continues to be the leading
cause of maternal death and still accounts for the high maternal mortality in
the country. In view of the situation, Mr Dery was of the conviction that if
health workers particularly trained health volunteers are given the needed
support to intensify their outreach services; they will be up to the task to
ensure reduction in maternal mortality at the community level. He noted that
with the involvement of community members, health professionals including
midwives, medical assistant as well as disease control officers, pregnant women
will be provided with the right health services. Mr. Dery said the preventive
and promotive aspect of health care play a crucial role in addressing issues
with regards to maternal mortality and called on all health workers to provide
the right messages to promote quality health among pregnant women. He indicated
that the media have a pivotal role to play in propagating the health messages to
support health staff at the various outreach points. He advised pregnant women
to access quality health services provided by the health workers and implored
Traditional Birth Attendants to partner the health sector in reducing maternal
and infant mortality in the region.
GBC
END IA/
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