Lordina commends midwives for contribution to health care
The First Lady, Mrs Lordina Mahama, has commended midwives, especially those working in rural and deprived communities, for their immense contribution to the health sector of the country.
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Mrs Mahama gave the commendation when she joined the Ghana Registered Midwives Association and the Ministry of Health to launch the International Day of Midwives.
The event was on the theme “Midwives for better tomorrow”.
Procreation
The First Lady said women were the creator’s vehicle for procreation and it was, therefore, important to ensure that no woman died in the process of giving birth.
She said the government, for its part, was investing significant resources to equipping and expanding health facilities, including the construction of Community Health Improvement Services (CHIPS) Compounds and also improving the road networks across the country.
The move, she said, was also to ensure a reduction in maternal and infant mortality, as well as improve the quality of healthcare delivery.
Mrs Mahama said in spite of the interventions by the government, “I understand that more than 30 per cent of those who go for antenatal care are not delivered of their babies at health facilities, which is not acceptable.”
“The majority of maternal deaths are due to unsupervised births which often come with complications which lead to the death of mother, child or both,” she said.
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Mrs Mahama said it was important to mark the day and give due recognition to nurses, midwives and doctors who on a daily basis supervise, work and ensure that mothers and children survived to contribute their quota to the development of the country.
Mrs Abigail A. Kyei, a Public Health and Midwifery Consultant, said the biggest challenge impeding the work of midwives was the bad road networks in communities and lack of the requisite equipment for professionals to work with.
She said improvement of the road networks and transport system would help to improve the chances of survival of expectant mothers and their unborn babies.
Maternal mortality
“Officially, the maternal mortality rate for Ghana stood at 350 deaths per 100,000 live births as of August 2014 and out of 183 countries, we are ranked 31 from the top,” she said.
Mrs Kyei said the statistics meant 152 countries, including Burkina Faso, Uganda, Rwanda, Gabon and India, were doing better than Ghana.”
She said the direct causes of maternal death in developing countries, including Ghana, were known to be severe bleeding, infections and high blood pressure during pregnancy, obstructed labour and unsafe abortion.
The Western Regional Minister, Mr Paul Evans Aidoo, commended the midwives for their contribution to quality health care.
He said the government was fully aware of the challenges facing them and was working hard to improve the situation.