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| Community Maternal Health Champions in a round table discussion |
A regional level training for 21 community maternal health
champions from seven districts of the Upper East Region has taken place in
Bolgatanga.
The 2-day training organized
under the auspices of SEND Ghana, an NGO with financial support from the
Christian Aid and the European Union.
About 30 individuals taken through various strategies aimed at improving maternal
health and new born care.
The community champions comprising Traditional Birth
Attendants, chiefs and queen mothers were equipped with requisite knowledge to
enable them undertake further down-streaming of key messages using
communication tools including flip charts.
Addressing participants, the
Programmes Officer of SEND Ghana, Rachel Gyabaah, said the training has become
necessary considering the increasing rate of maternal deaths in the region.
She
noted that there is the need to strengthen and improve maternal health delivery
using community volunteers. Isaac Asare has more for Radio Ghana.
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| Deputy Regional Director in charge of Public Health, Madam Olivia Achuliba, |
Since Ghana
became a signatory to the millennium declaration to improve access to health
care and reduce poverty, government in partnership with other health related
organizations have undertaken initiatives geared at meeting the minimum targets
set under the Millennium Development Goals.
Though some appreciable strives
have been made towards the realization of these goals, attempts to attain MDG 5
which is aimed at reducing maternal mortality seem not to be yielding the
desired results.
With the pace of progress, the country is likely to reduce
maternal deaths marginally but will eventually miss out the MDG 5 benchmark of
reducing maternal mortality by October this year.
The regional level training
for the community maternal health
champions, was to deepen community engagement and equipping communities with
knowledge and skills to enable them to adopt good health practices and better
health seeking behaviours related to pregnancy and childbirth as well as
newborns at the community level.
This
way, community members will be able to recognize the dangers associated with
pregnancy.
The beneficiary districts are Bawku, Bolgatanga, Kassena-Nankana
West, Talensi as well as Builsa North and south.
The Programmes Officer of SEND
Ghana, Rachel Gyabaah, said the overall objective of the training was to
address some of the key bottlenecks hindering the effective delivery of
maternal health services with focus on obstetric new born care, family planning
and skilled delivery.
The Deputy Regional Director in charge of Public Health, Madam
Olivia Achuliba, said despite vigorous community engagements on maternal and
child health issues, the region continues to record high maternal deaths.
She
expressed the fear that the trend could increase over time, if conscious effort
is not made by the maternal health champions to intensify its public education.
She outlined the rate of maternal deaths in the region, emphasizing the need
for pregnant women to report early at the health facilities.
According to her, 2014 recorded the highest
number of maternal death cases as compared to figures documented in the year 2010 up
to date. Out of the 47 number of pregnancy death related cases recorded last
year, 22 died in the first half of the year.
Relatively, as from January to
June this year, about 16 maternal death cases had been recorded in the region.
Madam
Olivia further indicated that the slow performance in reducing maternal health
mortality is attributed to preventable causes and mentioned bleeding, infections,
pregnancy induced hypertension, unsafe abortion, anaemia and obstructed labour
as some of the factors.
However charged the community health champions to support
and educate pregnant women and their families on the need to report early at
the health facility.
In an interview
with Radio Ghana, the queenmother of Tanga in the Bawku West District, Beatrice
Awinot Akpandaa, re-emphasized the urgency for families especially men to support
pregnant women before, during and after labour.
GBC NEWS END
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| Officials of SEND-Ghana in a pose with the Community Health Champions |
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