Wa Feb. 18, GNA - The Wa Municipal Health Service increased its skil= led deliveries from 74.1 per cent to 78.9 per cent last year, Madam Beatrice Kunfah, Wa Municipal Director of Health Service, has said. She said antenatal care and postnatal care also increased but it recorded high still births and neonatal deaths within the period, indicatin= g poor quality of services.

Madam Kunfah made this known when she presented a report on the health situation and challenges at a forum to review the performance of the health delivery systems in the Wa Municipality last year on Wednesday. She said seven maternal deaths were recorded last year even though reduction in maternal and neonatal deaths, still births, scaling up of Community Health Planning and Service Compounds (CHPS) strengthening surveillance to prevent outbreak of diseases and promotion of regenerative health and nutrition among other were some of its priorities set targets fo= r the year.

Madam Kunfah said her outfit declared the 2010 zero tolerance for home deliveries in an attempt to reduce the high maternal death by instituting some strategies such as meeting with chiefs and opinion leaders, volunteers and women to discuss challenges and causes leading to maternal deaths. Training sessions were organised for midwives and nurses on life saving skills, lactation management and customer care as well as providing phone numbers of ambulance drivers and that of midwives to volunteers and pregnan= t women to contact them for transport anytime a women was in labour. Madam Kunfah said Traditional Birth Attendance (TBAs and volunteers wer= e encouraged to accompany women in labour to health facilities for delivery while pregnancy outcome registers were put in place to monitor the outcome of pregnancies.

Madam Kunfah said the Municipal Health Service also successfully carried out mass campaigns to improve the health of mothers and children, recording 90 percent of its target group.

The Municipality recorded no case or deaths from measles and guinea worm for the past five years. However, there were some increases of communicable and non communicable diseases including hypertension and diabetes, which posed a challenge and a worry to her outfit. Madam kunfah advised people in the municipality to avoid excessive alcohol intake, salt and oil consumption and also exercise to keep their health in good condition.

One case of human rabies was reported last year but the number increased to two within the first quarter of this year and called for vaccination of dogs and also to step up the education on the disease. Madam Kunfah noted that awareness on HIV and AIDS was high but that did not translate into behavioural change and that many people were patronizing the counselling and testing centres at the various places.

She expressed the regret that the problem in the municipality was all about the poor linkage of the positive clients to the anti-retroviral sites for treatment and called for concerted efforts to address the challenge. She appealed to the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service to consider upgrading the Bamahu Clinic to a Polyclinic to cater for the increasing population emerging from the establishment of the University for Development Studies and also help address the many maternal deaths recorded in the area.

Similar attention should also be given to the Kambali and Kpaguri clinics.

Madam Kunfah mentioned poor staffing, inadequate midwives, medical assistants, public health nurses, field technicians and others as a challenge affecting the quality and coverage of health services in the municipality.