Ho, May 18, GNA - A Public Health Specialist has urged parents whose daughters die through attempted abortions to resist lying to Birth and Death officials when answering questionnaires for burial certificates.

He said this would give health administrators the right picture of the situation, which had been identified as a major cause of the high maternal death rate in the country. Dr Mac-Damien Dedzo, Deputy Director, Public Health at the Volta Regional Secretariat of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), was speaking at an Advocacy and Sensitisation Meeting on Saving Women's Lives in Ho on Thursday.

Public and Community Health Nurses, Midwives, other health professionals as well as mothers and pregnant women attended the function, which was to address the issues of maternal and infant ill-health and death within the Region.

Dr Dedzo said apart from abortions, delays in recognising danger signs in pregnancy, childbirth and after delivery, traditional beliefs, delays in reaching health facilities for prompt attention were the major causes of maternal mortality.

He said the causes must be tackled vigorously to meet the United Nation's Fourth and Fifth Millennium Development Goals of reducing infant mortality by two-thirds and maternal mortality by three-quarters respectively by the year 2015.

He put the national maternal mortality ration at 186 per 100,000 live births.

Dr Dedzo said 78 women died in government hospitals and clinics in the Volta Region because of complications while pregnant or on delivery in the Volta Region in 2005. He advocated the inclusion of men in education programmes on maternal issues.

The Public Health Specialist said community involvement in tackling high maternal mortality situation, by for example arranging transportation to the hospital for women needing urgent and special attention was crucial.

Dr Dedzo said it was an indictment on humanity for women to continue to die when "performing her God given duty" of procreation. Mrs Josephine Edum-Fotwe, Acting Ho Municipal Director of Health Services quoting data available at the Municipal Health Directorate said, "eight maternal deaths out of 2,723 deliveries occurred in 2003, 10 out of 3,141 in 2004 and 21 out of 2,320 in 2005." "This means that out of every 100 deliveries, one death occurs," she said, stressing, "this ought not be so".

Two clients gave brief accounts of how regular attendance at antenatal clinics helped them through pregnancies that would otherwise have been more stressful.

Mrs Regina Aziale, a self-employed and one of the testimonials to the importance of pregnant women attending antenatal clinics, however, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that attendants at the clinic were sometimes rash in their handling of clients.

She said the uneducated and the poor needed particular care and encouragement to attend the clinics.

The inability of government to sustain the policy of free delivery at public health facilities, the lack of transport to get to health facilities on time were some of the concerns raised during and open forum.