Infant-child mortality rates decline

Koforidua (Eastern Region), 5 March '99 -

The decline in infant and child mortality rates in the country is due to sound policies and strategies adopted by the Ministry of Health within the last 20 years. Nana Paddy Acheampong, Deputy Minister of Health said this at the designation ceremony of the Koforidua Central government hospital as a baby friendly health facility yesterday. The Eastern region, he said, has six baby friendly facilities, the highest in the country. According to the Deputy Minister, the promotion of appropriate breast feeding practices has identified important strategies and priority areas to improve child health care in Ghana. Breast feeding, he said, has also been identified as an important sub-component of the reproductive health programme of the ministry and is clearly related to the safe motherhood programme. Nana Acheampong said this is being pursued vigorously to improve upon the health of mothers and children. The Ministry's policy is to promote exclusive breast feeding for the first six months of the infant's life and continue with complementary feeds until the baby is two years or more. The Deputy Minister said to create an enabling environment to implement the breast feeding policy, the ministry adopted the baby friendly health facility initiative in 1993. By the end of the programme in the Eastern Region, there would be 23 baby friendly health facilities in Ghana. Nana Acheampong stressed the need for the promotion of local foods for babies after six months because by that age, breastmilk alone would not be enough to sustain the optimal growth and development of the infant. The Eastern Regional Director of Medical service, Dr Aaron Offei noted that breast-feeding provides good nutrition for children and also protects the child against life-threatening infections. According to him the efforts put in by health workers in this facility during 10 months training on location management were directed towards enabling women to initiate and sustain breast feeding for the benefit of the infants. He pointed out that every element of child-care is a mutual responsibility of both parents.