'Commit more resources into maternal health'

Daily Graphic, Pg 11, Jan. 20/09

Story Rebecca Quaicoe Duho

Ghana’s high maternal mortality rate of 560 per every 100,000 live birth has attracted the attention of the Coalition of Non-Governmental Organisations in Health.
The coalition has called on the government to commit more resources into maternal health to reduce births that are undertaken without skilled care.
It attributes the problem mainly to poverty among women and has, therefore, called on the government to, “within a short-term, scale-up the deployment of skills and technology and comprehensively address the issue of poverty within the national development plan framework”.
The coalition made the call at a press conference in Accra where it presented a 20-point communiqué it adopted after a civil society organisation health forum it held last year on the theme, ‘Civil society organisations (CSO) in partnership to promote health’.
On neonatal mortality, the coalition called on the government to look beyond cases within health institutions, saying that “neonatal mortality should be the focus of government, as it has been identified as the driving force in increasing child mortality rates”.
According to the coalition, 53 per cent of births are being undertaken by unqualified birth attendants and so the government has to adopt a holistic approach in maternal and child health interventions in the country to address the situation.
It further said the health ministry should take a second look at the critical role family planning and adolescent sexual reproductive health played in reducing maternal mortality and ensuring child and maternal health.
Ms Cecilia Lodonu-Senoo, an Executive Member of the Society for Women and AIDS in Africa (SWAA), Ghana, who read the communiqué, called on the government to allocate resources for purposes of monitoring and evaluation of health issues to ensure timely and accurate data for planning, forecasting and evaluating progress or otherwise in the health sector.
The communiqué called on the government to adopt a health system approach that recognised the participation and contribution of all non-state actors to address issues on maternal and child health care.
On HIV and AIDS, the coalition said access to and availability of services directed at HIV and AIDS should focus on addressing issues of stigma, cost and other socio-economic barriers which limited individual access service.
It also called for better supervision and enforcement of the guidelines on the code of conduct of health workers with respect to the rights of Persons Living with HIV (PLHIVs) to facilitate the protection of the rights of all PLHIVs accessing services from health facilities.
It further called for the involvement of CSOs to step up education and information on the nature and purpose of the NHIS to prevent or reduce abuse of the use of medical services, as well as increase the list of drugs under the scheme to include anti-retroviral therapy (ART).
The coalition also called for a more active and efficient pharmaco vigilance system and the engagement of all stakeholders, both private and public, in decision-making on the monitoring and evaluation of medicines.
It also called on CSOs to play active roles in ensuring occupational safety through advocacy and training, with the aim of developing the capacity of trade unions and their members to protect the lives and health of all workers.
It further called on the government to identify and harness existing capacities among qualified personnel in CSOs and partner them during the planning and implementation of health-related interventions.