Koforidua, Oct 06, GNA - Stakeholders in health delivery including development partners, traditional authorities, have met in Koforidua to discuss the accelerated reduction of maternal deaths to meet the target of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). Also in attendance was the First lady, Mrs Naadu Mills. The meeting brought together all Municipal and District Chief Executives in the Eastern Region, traditional authorities including the Paramount Chief of the New Juaben Traditional Area, Daasebre Oti Boateng, Nene Sackitey, Konor of Manya Krobo, and a host of queens to deliberate on strategies to reducing maternal mortality. The meeting brought to the fore fundamental issues impeding safe motherhood.

These include bad roads, lack of personnel, lack of adequate equipment and logistics in health facilities and even support for queens who had taken it upon themselves to ensure that no more lives perished during child bearing.

Speaker after speaker stressed the need for more intervention in maternal mortality and the need to step up education and advocacy to ensure a drastic reduction in maternal mortality. Ghana now records a staggering figure of 350 deaths per every 100,000 live births mainly through obstructed labour or complicated abortions. Per the Millennium Development Goals, it is supposed to come down to 180 deaths per every 100 live births by 2015. Statistics from the Ghana Health Service shows that out of the over 96 percent visits to ante-natal clinics by pregnant women only 61 percent of that number received skilled delivery at health facilities, indicating a risk for the remaining who refused to access skilled delivery.

Dr Naadu Mills, who launched the advocacy meeting, recalled that in 2009 she launched a similar programme called safe motherhood in Koforidua but expressed regret that no impact had been made in reducing the maternal mortality. She said it was unacceptable even in the face of all circumstances for a mother to die in the process of giving birth and that all Ghanaians, the ruling to the ruled, had a role to play in reducing maternal mortality, especially women societies. Dr Akyem Apea-Kubi, the Eastern Regional Minister who is an obstetrician, who gave insight into the causes of maternal deaths and said hypertension, delay in sending pregnant women to health facilities due to lack of knowledge on the part of the community or misconstrued to be relevant were factors that must be checked. He said education must play a pivotal part in any strategy that was being adopted and used in reducing maternal mortality. Dr Apea-Kubi raised the issue of delay of health personnel in attending to maternal emergencies as well as the lip service being paid to the equipping of medical facilities.

He cited an example where he had to complete a caesarean operation with light from a mobile phone even at Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital. Dr Gloria Quansah, the Director of Family Health of the Ghana Health Service, said considering the issues that underline maternal mortality, there was the need for safe motherhood to be given the same priority as HIV and AIDS and malaria. She said statistics had proved that maternal mortality, when given attention, could save the nation at least 140 million dollars every year. Daasebre Professor Oti Boateng said statistically, maternal deaths were the highest contributing factor to all deaths in women and no stone must be left unturned in reducing the rate. He appealed to queens to be interested in partnering the health sector in their communities to bring about change.