Loveaid Foundation, a Ho based non-governmental organization has donated delivery packs made up of sanitary pads, pampers, delivery mat, babies clothing, antiseptics and soaps to expectant and new mothers at the Ho Municipal Hospital.

The donation, estimated at GHC6,000.00, was supported by Wornam Foundation and the Ho Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) platform to promote maternal and infant health under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Ms Princess Lovia Tetteh, Director, LoveAid Foundation, said her outfit was working with people outside urban centres to help attain SDGs in areas of good health and well-being, quality education and decent work and economic growth.

She said her organization was moved by the plight of rural poor women, who were often not in charge of their health due to socio-economic challenges.

Ms Tetteh said the organization would collect data from the hospital to help track and train mothers, especially teenage mothers who may need economic empowerment.

She encouraged teenage mothers at the facility not to allow childbirth to cut their dreams short and aspire to be great.

Dr Elaine Ababio, a Medical Officer at the Hospital, who received the items, urged pregnant women to take charge of their health and not allow their husbands and male partners to be solely responsible for taking decisions on their health.

She observed that though the National Health Insurance Scheme covered aspects of pregnancy and delivery, some expectant mothers could hardly afford transportation to the health facility because “their husbands control their attendance”.

Dr Ababio said the major cause of indecisiveness of some women was due to lack of economic empowerment and expressed gratitude to Loveaid for the support.

She said in some cases, women lost their lives and that of their babies because their husbands failed to allow them to undergo certain medical care and reiterated the need for women to plan their pregnancies, prepare economically and manage their health during the period.