Skip to main content

Northern region records 1,278 still births




The Northern region recorded a total of 87,765 in deliveries in 2013 across the various health facilities of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), out of which 1,278 were still-births.
Some 492 of the survived deliveries died under age one,  while the first quarter of 2014 had already recorded 21,637 deliveries, with 67 of them dying under age one, and 322  still-births.
Dr. Jacob Wundable Mahama, Deputy Northern Regional Director of Public Health, who disclosed this to the media in Tamale on Tuesday, explained that many of the still-births could have been avoided if pregnant women stopped taking concoctions to aid delivery, and stressed that enema usage was very common in the region.         
He said malnutrition, anaemia, the failure of some pregnant women to attend ante-natal and malaria, could have contributed to still-births in the region, and urged pregnant women to take precaution and avoid practices that would endanger their lives and their pregnancies.
He said the problem of still-births in the region had reduced, as compared to the previous years, and advised pregnant women to lead lifestyles that would not affect their pregnancies to result in still-births.
Dr. Mahama who was speaking to the media as part of activities to mark this year’s Child Health Promotion week, expressed worry that many of the deliveries in the region were conducted by some traditional birth attendants due to the shortage of midwives.
He lamented that even though the midwives were few, 50 percent of them would be retiring from active service in four years’ time, and that the situation could worsen the problem of maternal health.
He noted that some health training institutions in the region had started training more midwives to fill in the vacuum, and expressed the hope that the situation would improve if more midwives were trained.
Dr. Mahama said GHS had re-engaged the services of some  midwives who had gone on retirement, but there was still pressure on the health facilities, and advised retired midwives who had the means to establish maternity homes to augment the situation.
A tour to Diare, a community in the Savelugu/Nanton Municipality, to observe the Child Health Promotion Week, showed remarkable ante-natal and post natal attendance, an indication of many mothers wanting to access quality health care.
Mr. Moses Akunyam, a Physician Assistant at the Diarre Health Centre said, health facilities in that area receive an average of 500 children weekly, and that the child health promotion week was targeting 1,700 children to be immunized.
He said the children would be vaccinated against various diseases, and supplied with vitamin A supplement, de-wormers, and given insecticide mosquito nets to prevent them from contracting malaria.
Mr. Akunyam said the facilities in the area had not recorded any infant mortality for the past five years, and urged mothers o continue to attend ante-natal and post natal services.
Mr. Joel Abekuliya, Regional Health Promotion Officer, said the health directorate was bedeviled with logistical and financial constraints, which affect its ability to go to remote and hard-to-reach communities, to sensitize and provide quality health care.

Credit: GNA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Vodafone sells 45% shares in Verizon for US$130 billion

Vodafone has sold its 45% stake in Verizon Wireless to US telecoms group Verizon Communications in one of the biggest deals in corporate history. The US$130 billion (£84bn) deal was announced by Vodafone after the close of trading on the London Stock Exchange. The company will return £54 billion to its shareholders, of which £22 billionn will go to shareholders in the UK. Vodafone will also invest money in its business, with funds earmarked for high speed mobile phone networks. It said that by 2017 its main five European markets would have almost complete 4G coverage. Possibly it would be wrong to carp and wring hands that Vodafone won't be paying a penny of tax to the British taxman” Vodafone group chairman Gerard Kleisterlee said: "The transaction will position Vodafone strongly to pursue our leadership strategy in mobile and unified communication services for consumers and enterprises, both in our developed markets and across our emerging markets businesses." The...
Post a Comment
Read more

Shortage of weighing cards hit major hospitals in Accra

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong- Daily Express There is scarcity of Child Health Records Book (weighing cards), in some major public hospitals in the capital, information reaching the Daily Express indicates. Checks by this paper revealed that while some of the hospitals have being encountering the shortage for about a year now, others started experiencing it six months ago. In place of the Child Health Record Book (weighing card), the nursing mothers are given a single card on which information of children are recorded on it. Those hospitals identified are the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Korle Bu Polyclinic, Kaneshie Polyclinic, Adabraka Polyclinic and the Ridge Hospital. At the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, the nursing mothers are given yellow cards in place of the weighing cards. The Public Relations Secretariat at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital said such information has not come to their notice and for that matter they cannot comment on it. “We do not have some ...
Post a Comment
Read more

ABL launches chibuku super in Bolgatanga

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong sarpong007@gmail.com Accra Brewery Limited (ABL) has officially launched the Chibuku Super drink at Bolgatanga in the Upper East region with the aim of reaching a lot of customers. Mr. Thomas Nii Ponku, Supervisor in charge of Chibuku Super at ABL told Daily Express that the management decided to launch the Chibuku Super drink in the Upper East region because they’ve realized it is similar to a traditional drink in the region. “Chibuku is like a well developed pito, a traditional drink made from fermented millet or sorghum in the Northern part of Ghana. So the idea is to provide them with similar drink,” he added. Mr. Nii Ponku disclosed this when members of the Institute of Finance and Economic Journalists (IFEJ) toured the facility of ABL to acquaint themselves with the expansion project at the factory. He mentioned that after a feasibility study, they realized there is a potential market for the product in the northern part of Ghana ...
Post a Comment
Read more