Accra, July 17, GNA - Vice President John Mahama has appealed to Ghanaians to face up to the grimness of the high rate of maternal deaths in the country with a united steadfastness so as to deal resolutely with the menace.
He said the high maternal mortality rate was a blot on the progress of the country and the dent must bruise the collective conscience of the people to address the issue in an expeditious manner.
"Maternal mortality should pull towards us together" and the fruits of growth and development means nothing if our women continue to die", said the Vice President when launching a renewed documentary and campaign against maternal deaths in Accra on Thursday night.
Maternal mortality is the death of a woman while pregnant, or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management but not from accidental or incidental causes.
The International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics said blood loss occurring as a result of bleeding or postpartum haemorrhage remained the major cause of the dour phenomenon, accounting for more than 25 per cent of all such deaths.
Sepsis or infections accounts for another 15 per cent, while eclampsia is responsible for 12 per cent, unsafe abortion practices account for 13 per cent, hypertensive disorders of pregnancy 12 per cent and obstructed labour eight per cent.
Other causes of maternal deaths, often labeled the indirect causes by experts, include the physiological effects of pregnancy aggravated from previously existing diseases or from diseases arising during pregnancy such as anaemia, malaria, HIV/AIDS, and cardiovascular diseases.
Ignorance, the lack of education, low status of women, poverty, delays in seeking medical care and delay in reaching a health facility are cited as the other causes responsible for the death of about 580 women out of an estimated 100,000 live births.
After watching the heart-rending documentary that enlightens viewers on the distress surviving families went through, a visibly touched Vice President Mahama said he was hopeful that the campaign shall make a significant impact to revitalize national effort to deal with the problem.
The documentary also dilates on lack of skilled health workers in remote communities, arguing from a reasoned point of view that circumstances connected with pregnancy were neither costly nor technically extravagant, but what was lacking was a concerted social action to deal with the problems at both the community and national level.
The Vice President said Ghanaians must refract a woman going through pregnancy and child birth safely as a good mirror through which our society would reflect its progress, urging for action to reverse the slide.
He admitted that appreciable gains in reproductive health have been made in the past 20 years, as Ghana comes to terms with the fact that maternal death is an indicator of improved development, but conceded that challenges remained.
Among these challenges are lack of access to skilled care during pregnancy, declining and unmet family planning services, giving rise to unplanned pregnancies, which contributes to over 10 per cent of maternal deaths in the country.
Vice President Mahama said in addition to urging inter-sectoral action, education remained the key in bringing down the dismal statistics even as the government worked to deal with infrastructural anomalies.
"I think that education, with emphasis on education of the girl-child, and massive campaigns which encourage women to seek help early in pregnancy and utilize the services available at the pre-natal and post-natal clinics, is of utmost importance."
Vice President Mahama said the Mills' administration shall build on the previous government's free delivery package, while working on a broad range of interventions in tandem with civil society organizations at the community level.
Dr Makane Kane, Resident Representative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), said although the documentary dwelled on the negative aspects, there were success stories in many parts of the country which must be equally highlighted.
Madam Vicky Okine, an executive of the Alliance for Reproductive Health Rights (ARHR), said the campaign was intended to whip-up passion for change, especially among health workers such as bad decision making.
In addition, the campaign, she said, was intended to highlight the social dimensions to the deaths.
Dr Esther Offei-Aboagye, Director of the Institute of Local Government Studies, charged Ghanaians to work resolutely to reverse the blight of maternal deaths in the country.
GNA
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