Unsafe abortion was the highest contributor to maternal mortality cases recorded in the Sunyani Municipality in 2013, Dr Paulina Appiah, Municipal Director of Health, has said.

Addressing participants at a training workshop in Sunyani, she said almost all the 23 cases of maternal deaths recorded in the municipality last year were as a result of unsafe abortion.

The media training workshop attended by about 70 Journalist and media practitioners in the Brong-Ahafo Region was organized by Global Media Foundation (GLOMEF), a human right, anti-corruption and media Non-Governmental Organisation.

With support from the Safe Abortion Fund (SAF), the workshop was aimed at empowering the media to sensitize the public on accessing safe abortion services in the Region.

Dr Appiah noted that mortality was high among young women between 25 to 35 years, indicating that many of them applied herbs and concoctions to get rid of their pregnancies.

They however, end up with various health complications and sometimes died on arrival at either the Sunyani Municipal or the Regional Hospital, she said.

Dr Appiah advised young women and teenage girls to opt for family planning services to guard against unwanted pregnancies.

She said it was not true that family planning could make women barren and condemned stigmatization attached to family planning.

Dr Appiah emphasized that almost all the public health facilities, and many private clinics in the municipality offered comprehensive abortion care and family planning services and advised young women to access.

Mr Raphael Godlove Ahenu, Chief Executive Officer of GLOMEF stressed the importance of promoting family planning services to control teenage pregnancy and unsafe abortion.

He observed that safe abortion services were however, not readily accessible in national health institutions indicating that the few health facilities that offered the services were situated in urban areas.

Mr Ahenu noted that teenage pregnancy and unsafe abortion were alarming in Brong-Ahafo and stressed the need to increase girl’s access to safe abortion and contraceptive services.

This is why GLOMEF is implementing a three-year project on safe abortion care, he explained and appealed to the media to play their part to make the project achieved the desire targets.