The Eastern Region has recorded 61 maternal deaths out of 31,380 deliveries recorded from January - June 2017, as compared to 58 deaths out of 30,945 deliveries for the same period in 2016.
Dr Mrs Charity Sarpong, the Eastern Regional Director of Health Services, who disclosed this at a mid-year performance review meeting, said ‘’we find this unacceptable since several interventions have been put in place to improve maternal health’’.
She said in order to reduce maternal death, interventions such as the PICCAM strategy, zoning the region into five with each zone being assigned an Obstetrician /Gynecologist specialist, building capacity of health staff on safe motherhood protocols and setting up a maternal and Neonatal Audit Implementation and Tracking Committee have been instituted.
Speaking on the theme “improving maternal health care delivery in the region –the Critical role of health professionals’’, she said data management has improved significantly at all levels with respect to data entry, timeliness and quality and surveillance activities.
Dr Sarpong said with support from the Ghana Health Service and USAID, the region successfully implemented the Last Mile Distribution Project which seeks to improve logistics and medicines availability in the health facilities across the districts in the region.
The Regional Director said the shortage of critical staff especially in the rural communities, poor infrastructure as well as lack of ambulance for prompt referrals and inadequate funds still remained a challenge.
Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, the Director Family Health, said some key indicators including skilled delivery, newborn care, adolescent health, nutrition and immunization amongst others were critical to reducing maternal deaths.
He urged the regional health administration to take advantage of new initiatives in training midwives in limited Ultrasonography, task sharing, Iron Folate Supplementation for Adolescent Girls under the GIFTS Program as well as new WHO recommendations to improve maternal health outcomes.
In a speech read on behalf of the Eastern Regional Minister Mr Eric Kwakye Darfour said despite the interventions and strides made, there is more to be done to meet the sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 which seeks to provide good health and well living for all people.
He said government acknowledged the challenges faced by health practitioners in the course of their duties and called for continuous dialogue together to find a holistic approach in handling issues that affect the development of the health sector.
Latest Stories
-
Ada Chiefs urge government to ensure safety of Electrochem workers
5 minutes -
Local assembly elections must be partisan, current system hasn’t worked for 32 years – IDEG
9 minutes -
A Country Called Ghana: Lilwin reveals he paid Ramzy Noah over $40,000 for his role
16 minutes -
GFA confirms imminent changes to Black Stars technical team
27 minutes -
GCB Bank supports the attainment of 5-Ps of Sustainable Development – MD at New Year School
28 minutes -
Minority ready to cooperate with Majority for swift formation of new gov’t – Manhyia South MP
34 minutes -
Armah-Kofi Buah Writes: Urgent Call to Action: Fishermen in Kamgbunli face devastating fish disease crisis
40 minutes -
Free SHS: GH₵ 7.50p feeding fee per student not enough – CHASS
48 minutes -
Minority caucus is not afraid of ORAL team – John Darko
53 minutes -
Daily Insights for CEOs: The art of strategic networking – Expanding your influence as a CEO
1 hour -
Energy grids in Ghana and West Africa: Assessing access, reliability, and sustainability for actionable solutions
1 hour -
Haruna Iddrisu for Education Ministry as Mahama nominates 9 more ministers
2 hours -
Abla Dzifa Gomashie nominated as Minister for Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts
2 hours -
Christmas festivities: Retail sales value increased by18% – Maverick Research
2 hours -
Real estate development, construction drive economy growth, create jobs
2 hours