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
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