Abortion cause of increase in maternal deaths - Dr Twumasi

Tamale, July 14, GNA - Dr Akwasi Twumasi, Northern Regional Director of Ghana Health Service (GHS), has stated that illegal abortion accounts for increasing rate of maternal mortalities in the Northern Region of Ghana.

He said 210 mothers died during delivery in the Northern Region between 2007 and 2008 as a result of illegal abortion complications. Dr Twumasi was addressing the first Northern Regional Health Forum in Tamale on Tuesday, which was organised by the Northern Regional Coalition of NGOs in Health.

The forum brought together NGOs in health to deliberate on challenges, opportunities, collaboration and the way forward in health programmes.

Dr Twumasi noted that couples were either afraid of or had negative perception about family planning and as such, would not use it to plan their lives and when unplanned pregnancies occurred, they would resort to illegal abortions resulting in many maternal deaths. He, therefore, urged couple to consider family planning as an option when making major family decisions to avoid unwanted pregnancies with its related problems.

He said the GHS was ready to collaborate and work effectively with the Coalition to promote quality and equitable health care delivery towards the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the country.

The Regional Director of Health noted that within the last decade, donor inflows had reduced drastically due to the global financial crisis adding that the situation had been compounded by the reckless use of resources at health institutions.

He, therefore, urged such institutions to judiciously use their resources saying "since our attitude has a lot to tell on the future and whether those we claim to help are actually being helped or we are helping ourselves".

Dr Twumasi said the contributions of NGOs to the national healthcare delivery could not be over-emphasised but there was the need to ensure a more coordinated approach in the discharge of the activities of the various NGOs to harness their comparative strengths.

Hajia Hajara Telly, Vice Chairperson of the Coalition, said the organisation aimed at promoting, protecting and representing the interest of NGOs in the health sector and influencing government policies on health for the attainment of quality healthcare for the vulnerable and the marginalized. She said the coalition had chalked some modest successes in healthcare delivery in the region and assured the public that the NGO was ever ready to help address the health problems of the country. 14 July 09