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| Abdul Rashid Imoro |
That maternal and child mortalities represent a huge
health burden in the Northern Region of Ghana is not completely in doubt. Its
fight has been identified by health experts as key in achieving goal four and
five of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set by the United Nations
in the year 2000 to be achieved by ending of 2015.
Goal four targets a reduction by two thirds, between
1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate whereas goal five targets a reduction by
three quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio.
According
to the Northern Regional Health Directorate of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), an
estimated 80 to 130 women die each year in the region during childbirth. Aside
this, quite a greater number of women who prefer to give birth in their homes, die
unreported. For instance, in 2013, the region recorded 106 maternal
deaths, 2012, 119, 2011, 131, 2010,
88, 2009, 96, 2008, 91 and 2007, 115.
The reasons accountable for these unwanted deaths besides
the refusal of many women to seek antenatal care or give birth at home include
postpartum haemorrhage, severe anaemia, sepsis, eclampsia, abortion and delay
in going to the hospital when in labour.
Other challenges are bad road networks linking
district and regional hospitals, inadequate health facilities and personnel,
lack of critical medical equipment and lack of blood banks in most district
hospitals.
The challenges confronting maternal and child health
informed Savana Signatures (SavSign), a non-governmental organisation based in
Tamale to implement a two-year (2012-2014) STAR-Ghana funded project dubbed: “Technology
for Maternal Health”. The project was implemented in the
Savelugu-Nanton Municipality, Yendi Municipality, Tamale Metropolis and Kumbungu
District in the Northern Region.
Programmes Coordinator, Sex and Reproductive Health and Rights at SavSign Abdul Rashid
Imoro, told Savannahnews the project aimed at reducing maternal and
infant deaths through the provision of relevant information and supreme advice
to all registered pregnant women in the project areas in partnership with
health facilities.
The project, Mr. Imoro noted, benefited 6286 expectant
mothers who visited six hospitals located in all the four districts, adding
that “They included the Savelugu Government Hospital, Yendi Government
Hospital, Kings Village Medical Centre in Kumbungu and the Tamale West, Tamale
Central and Tamale Teaching Hospitals in the Tamale Metropolis”, he stated.
“Each of
the beneficiary hospitals was provided with six computers, a printer,
headphones, a projector, a projector screen, a mobile phone and educative materials
on maternal health, which enabled health officials, to educate pregnant women on
quality maternal healthcare for safe delivery.
“The project design also included setting up maternal
health corners, organizing knowledge sharing sessions for pregnant women who
visited the hospital for antenatal care and delivering SMS/audio messages to
them via their mobile phones. Pregnant women in the remotest of locations had access
to easy-to-understand maternal health information on their mobile phones much
more frequently than the monthly antenatal visits to the hospitals” he intimated.
Furthermore,
Mr. Imoro said all pregnant women who registered at each of the six hospitals,
received short voice/data messages on nutrition, personal hygiene, signs and
symptoms of pregnancy and what preparations they ought to make towards safe childbirth.
“Messages are delivered in languages such as English, Dagbani and Likpakpa at
least three times a week”, he noted.
The skills, knowledge and approaches
of at least 72 midwives, community nurses and ICT technicians from each of the
six health facilities were enhanced to use ICT tools to communicate maternal
health information much more effectively and efficiently.
Meanwhile, as nations of the world get set to finish a
race they began on the MDGs in 2000, Ghana, an obvious participant, will have
very little to celebrate for especially in the area of maternal and child
health which still remains a headache to government.
The GHS
projects that, an estimated 4000 women die annually through childbirth or unsafe
abortion practices. This projection confirms an annual report by Oxfam which
says, Ghana every week records 75 maternal deaths from
pregnancy-related complications and childbirth.
By the
year 2015, Ghana is expected to reduce maternal deaths by 70 percent. But with the 2015 MDGs deadline looming, the country is a
long way from its goal of 54 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births and 53 child
deaths per 1,000 live births.
The country in 2012 was ranked 41st on the Central Intelligence
Agency (CIA) world maternal mortality rate index and the situation is more worrying to all stakeholders in
the health sector including SavSign.
Adopted by world leaders in the year
2000, the MDGs provide concrete, numerical benchmarks for tackling extreme
poverty in its many dimensions such as poverty and hunger, universal basic
education, gender equity, child health, maternal health, HIV/AIDS,
environmental sustainability and global partnership.
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