Improved maternal health is an important prerequisite for women’s advancement, yet due to low access and utilization of maternal healthcare, women, especially those in rural communities remain vulnerable and underserved.

Nonstandard maternity ward, absence of staff accommodation, and laboratory at the Bonsu Health Centre in the Nkoranza South Municipality in Bono East region is affecting provision and access to quality health care delivery. The Health Centre which is currently serving over six thousand people who live in Bonsu and its adjoining communities is also faced by poor hygiene and sanitation due to lack of sanitation facilities like toilets, inadequate financial health investments, and limited workforce.

This came to light when the Project Assessment Team (PAT) from Global Media Foundation under its Project Rural Health System Strengthening Program (RHSS) visited the facility to assess the challenges facing rural health care. Global Media Foundation in 2018 initiated the Rural Health System Strengthening Program (RHSS) which targeted at achieving SDG3 which aims at ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages by 2030.

The main goal of the project is to partner with the private sector, health care NGOs, and public clinics to raise awareness and increase access to targeted health services for all especially rural communities, women, and men workers and their families. The project further aims at improving health infrastructure in rural communities to help improve quality health care delivery.

Under the project, by 2030, GLOMEF is expected to construct about 60 health centres in deprived and hard-to-reach communities across the country and equip more existing centres with medical equipment.

The In-Charge of the Bonsu Health Centre, Sylvia Boakye Sarpong told the team that only two out of the nine staff of the facility have accommodation and the rest are commuting from Nkoranza to work. This, according to her, is affecting quality service delivery at the facility.

She revealed that every month, the facility records about 500 OPD attendance and 100 maternity attendance. Miss Boakye Sarpong was of the view that lack of a standard maternity ward is a big challenge because the current facility is not the best and stressed the need for a spacious maternity ward.

The In-Charge said through the IGF, they are putting up a Laboratory at the cost of over GHs 50,000 and they have so far spent GHs18000 and therefore appealing to corporate bodies, NGOs and philanthropists to support them to complete the facility.

The Project Assessment Team Leader, who is the CEO of the Foundation, Raphael Godlove Ahenu noted that health is a fundamental human right and a key indicator of sustainable development.

Quoting from the SDG3 document, he said “Poor health threatens the rights of children to education, limits economic opportunities for men and women and increases poverty within communities and countries around the world”

In addition to being a cause of poverty, health is impacted by poverty and strongly connected to other aspects of sustainable development, including water and sanitation, gender equality, climate change and peace and stability.

According to SDG3, document, in order to accelerate progress and address new health challenges, all actors, including the private sector need to partner to develop health care solutions that work for people, families, communities and nations. At minimum business has a responsibility to respect all human rights, including the right to health, adding that small, medium and large companies can both benefit from and contribute to achieving healthy societies.

The SDGs provide a new opportunity for the private sector to support the delivery of health needs around the world through their products, services and business activities including value chains and distribution networks, communication activities, occupational health and safety practices and provision of employee benefits.

The Rural Health System Strengthening Program aim at achieving the following targets under the SDG3:

3.1 By 2030, reduce the global maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 per 100,000 live births

3.2 By 2030, end preventable deaths of newborns and children under 5 years of age, with all countries aiming to reduce neonatal mortality to at least as low as 12 per 1000 live births and under-5 mortality to at least as low as 25 per 1000 live births.

3.7 By 2030, ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health-care services, including for family planning, information and education, and the integration of reproductive health into national strategies and programmes.

3.8 By 2030, Achieve universal health coverage, including financial risk protection, access to quality essential health-care services and access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all.