By: Mathias Aboba?
Midwives in the Upper East Region have declared zero tolerance for maternal mortality with a pledge to make more sacrifices towards improving service quality and access to maternal and child health services. The midwives made the declaration at a one day regional midwives conference organized by the Regional Health Directorate in Bolgatanga.
Addressing the conference, the Regional Director of Health Services Dr John Koku Awoonor-Williams acknowledged the crucial role midwives had in the promotion of safe motherhood and ultimately in the reduction of maternal and child ?mortality.
Dr Awoonor-Williams noted that the acute shortage of obstetrician gynecologists in the country and the Upper East Region in particular means ?a much bigger burden of responsibility lies on the shoulders of midwives when it comes to issues? concerning? saving women from pregnancy and child bearing related harm and deaths.
He defended the region?s decision to post midwives to CHPS compounds saying midwives can adequately meet the needs of women and families when they are closer to the community level than in the hospitals and other higher level facilities where only a small fraction of the population ?access health care. ?In this region about 80% of our people live in the rural areas and women are comfortable seeking health care in the comfort of their own localities: it is no news women from our communities will do well to avoid visiting the district or regional hospital because they consider the sophisticated environment as alien and intimidating.
He said midwives are ?front line health staff? whose work involves helping women in their decisions and preparation for pregnancy, and the same people who provide ?health care for mothers throughout their pregnancy, during delivery and after delivery , they can better discharge their ?core task of averting maternal deaths if they work in facilities where majority of the people access health care here, they have the finest opportunity to provide the best of care? and professional? advice ?that reduce most of the factors accounting for maternal deaths to the remotest possibilities.
He said although the move to post midwives to work at CHPS compounds is being challenged by the lack of midwives in the region as well as resources for providing adequate logistics at the CHPS compounds, District Directors of Health are encouraged to give it the best support to ensure it success. He entreated midwives to accept to live and work in rural communities to make the most impact of their careers.
Dr Awoonor-Williams expressed deep concern that despite abundant evidence that family planning can reduce maternal mortality by about 25% the rate of contraceptive use in the Upper East Region continue to stagnate at 31% with unsafe abortion still ranking among the leading causes of maternal mortality. He admonished midwives against conscientious objection or the deliberate act of denying women and girls information and or access to safe abortion services based on one?s religious and cultural beliefs saying Ghana?s abortion law outlines a wide of circumstances including pregnancy resulting from rape, incest among others that guarantee a woman opportunity to obtain safe abortion hence health workers should desist from acting unprofessionally.
He said the midwifery profession like many other professions today has been plagued with indiscipline with frequent complains of all manner of unethical conducts by practitioners. He therefore charged midwives to endeavor to protect the image of the profession by pointing out the bad nuts.
Participants at the conference were taken through current issues on maternal mortality in the region, malaria in pregnancy prevention and case management as well as HIV/AIDS testing and counselling.
Regional Coordinator of the Millennium Development Goals Accelerated Framework (MAF) Mr. Ali Baba revealed that as part of efforts to accelerate reduction in maternal mortality the conference was organized to bring midwives in the region together to share experience, refresh their knowledge, inspire and update their understanding on currents issues in maternal and child health care. He was optimistic that the participants will utilize the knowledge gained through the conference to improve on their performance.
Sharing her impressions on the conference a participant Mrs Dagero Janet, a midwife at the Pwalungu Health Center in Talensi District described the meeting as important and appealed to the Region to consider organizing similar meetings regularly. Madam Dagero challenged all midwives in the region and the nation at large to discharge their duties diligently despite challenges.
