By Linda Asante Agyei, GNA Special Correspondent, Washington (Courtesy UNFPA, Ghana)

Washington, June 11, GNA - Ms Elizaberth Agyeman, Member of Parliament (MP) for Oforikrom in the Ashanti Region, has urged Parliament to start exercising its responsibility of holding accountable, those responsible for ensuring that the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are met by 2015. She said it was the responsibility of the MPs to ensure that health was better prioritized in the country's development plans and also to generate more visibility in making MDG-5 and sexual reproductive health rights a political priority at all levels.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency at the end of the three-day world conference on Women Deliver, Ms Agyeman who was the only Ghanaian MP at the Parliamentarians Forum, which was part of the conference, said MPs had a bigger role in ensuring the realization of the MDGs my 2015.

She explained that with a greater understanding of the problems, gaps, difficulties and obstacles in realizing the MDG 5 world wide, and ensuring universal access to reproductive health from a political, economic and social point of view, MPs will now be in a better position to hold the various Ministries, Departments and Agencies responsible and accountable in meeting the goals of the MDGs, especially Goal 5.

She said there were many stakeholders like the Ministry of Health, and the various departments under it that were responsible for numerous programmes in ensuring that the goals of the MDG were met, such as the Ministry of Finance. "All these stakeholders must be held accountable and monitored to see whether they are doing their work diligently". She said though some progress had been made towards preventing maternal and child deaths, a sizeable number of women and children continued to die each year.

"These deaths are particularly tragic because the vast majority of them are preventable and with simple, low cost interventions the lives of many of the women and children most at risk could be saved".

She noted that women throughout the world were the engines of economic growth for families and therefore funding for basic interventions to help keep women and children healthy was a good investment in global stability and prosperity, even during difficult economic times.

Ms Agyeman recounted the high number of women who have died through childbirth, which could have been prevented if the necessary measures were put in place and expressed regret for the recent death of a woman in the hands officials of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI)in Accra. She said there was the need for the MPs to generate political commitment and financial investment for fulfilling MDG 5 from a parliamentary perspective, create awareness about the involvement and the role of parliamentarians in ensuring universal access to reproductive health.

The Oforikrom MP who is also a member of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Health, attributed the high rate of maternal and newborn deaths to the negative mind sets of some women, especially those in the rural areas, that giving birth at home without any supervision from a qualified midwife or health personnel was the right thing to do, and also blamed some health personnel for their negligence.

She expressed regret that there were only 20 women in Ghana's Parliament, adding that "This makes our work more difficult because although we are not many we will still work hard to make an impact and make sure we include the men in all our deliberations".

Ms Agyeman stressed the need for government to take a second look at the role of midwives in complementing the roles of other health professionals in making child birth a joyous moment for every mother. "We need to strengthen nursing and midwifery services to ensure rapid progress in achieving MDG 5 and contribute to the achievement of MDGs 4 and 6, which aim at reducing child mortality, combating child HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases." 12 June 10