One of the goals of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is improving safe motherhood. MDG number five aims at reducing maternal mortality by 75 percent by the year 2015.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines maternal death as 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.
Globally, an estimated 60 million pregnant women annually experience a life threatening complication which may result in their death or the death of the newborn baby or leave them with a permanent disability.
Studies show that 99 percent of all maternal deaths take place in the 49 poorest countries of the world, 34 of which are in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Ghana ranks 143 of the countries with high maternal mortality with the ratio at 214 per 100,000 live births.
In 2003, the Ghana government introduced a free delivery policy aimed at reducing maternal deaths in the country. A study by the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR) revealed that the delivery fee exemption policy had a positive effect on the extreme poor while some rich people also benefited.
"The mean share of out -of- pocket delivery payment in total household income declined from 13.18 % for poor households in the first quintile to 21.51 % in the rich households in the fifth quintile," the findings of the research said.
The report therefore recommended that in implementing such programmes in future, the government should come out with a clear definition of who the poor are since this will help target them with maximum impact.
Now, the Ghana government directed that all pregnant women should access maternal health services free of charge as a means to address Ghana's challenge to attain MDG 5.
This means all women of child bearing age can now have free health care antenatal, post natal and during delivery, including all emergencies arising out from delivery. Also, the baby will enjoy free health care on the motherâ's registration for up to three months.
The initiative is being implemented through the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). Majority of Ghanaians have expressed concern about the effect of such policies on reducing population.
But the Chief Executive Officer of NHIS, Mr. Ras Boateng disabused such claims, saying that they are aimed at removing Ghana's name from the league of countries with high maternal mortality.
Despite claims that Ghana's maternal mortality rate is stable, Dr. Patrick K. Aboagye, Programme Manager of the Family Health Division of the Ghana Health Service, disclosed that the number rose from 954 in 2006 to 996 last year.
He said that out of the 996 maternal mortality deaths in 2007, 148 (representing 15.5%) were adolescents. Since these statistics are captured only in the health facilities, there is the belief that the real situation on the ground could be worse since some of these deaths in remote areas are not reported.
About 80% of all maternal deaths occur around the time of delivery or immediately after.
In Africa, one in 16 women stand the risk of dying from pregnancy in their lifetime compared to one in 2,800 women in the developed world. In Ghana it is one in 35 women.
Causes of maternal deaths in Ghana include bleeding (17%), hypertension (19%), anaemia (12%), unsafe abortion (11%), infections (10%), obstructed labour (7%) and other causes (24%).
Speaking at a GHS monthly health meeting in Accra on reducing maternal death and improving maternal health, Dr. Aboagye stressed that pregnancy is a high risk activity and should be properly managed.
He cautioned that if no interventions are made to curb maternal and infant death by 2015, 12,000 women could be lost, 1,000,000 will suffer from disabilities and 200,000 infants will die.
On the use of maternal health services by pregnant women, he said 92% antenatal care visits (at least one) are made, 40% of post natal care attendance and 49% deliveries by skilled attendants.
Dr. Aboagye said the loss of productivity due to maternal deaths will be $12 million (¢ 108 billion) by 2015. "The death of a woman and a mother is a tragic loss to the family, community and nation as a whole," he lamented.
He was concerned that because many women lack information and adequate knowledge about danger signals during pregnancy and labour, they delay to seek care.
Again, he noted that certain cultural or traditional practices and poverty restrict women from seeking health care. "Others delay in accessing health care due to distant health facilities, poor roads and communication network and inadequate skilled attendants."
He deduced that the higher the proportion of deliveries attended by skilled attendants in a country, the lower the country's maternal mortality. Consequently, Dr. Aboagye said efforts must be made to improve skilled attendance during delivery, improve access to high quality delivery services and improve access to family planning services.
"Pregnant women must prepare adequately towards delivery because pregnancy is high risk. They should not assume that automatically all will be well but must prepare for emergencies."
No comments:
Post a Comment