Accra, July 24, GNA - The Alliance for Reproductive Health Rights (ARHR), has called on President Atta Mills to take concrete steps to address what it described as the unacceptable high rate of maternal mortality in Ghana.

ARHR announced this in an open letter addressed to President Mills ahead of this year's African Union Summit in Kampala, Uganda next week, which was copied to the Ghana News Agency on Saturday.

The Alliance said it found this year's theme for the summit "Maternal, Infant, and Child Health and Development in Africa," laudable and appropriate in the face of worsening maternal health outcomes confronting the entire continent.

It said the theme is a good reflection of the concern of African leaders for the stagnated high rates of maternal mortality in Africa and depicts the urgency needed to address the issue.

The Alliance for Reproductive Health Rights is a leading Ghanaian Non-governmental Organization established in 2004 by a network/group of NGOs to promote rights based approaches to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) in Ghana through advocacy, capacity building and research.

ARHR, however, applauded Ghana's efforts so far noting interventions such as the Reproductive Health Strategic Plan 2007-2011 and the Road Map for Accelerating Attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) including MDG 5 on maternal mortality and the Safe Motherhood Strategy and the High Impact Rapid Delivery (HIRD).

It noted that the 2009 Review Report of the health sector indicated that child and infant mortality have reduced adding that there was an 11 percent increase in number of skilled deliveries and an increase in antenatal visits.

The Alliance said maternal mortality rate in the country currently stands at 560 deaths per 100,000 live births because of the reduction in education on family planning.

"Rural women bear the greater brunt of these deaths, many of which go unreported" the Alliance stated.

ARHR said recommendations have emanated from various AU meetings adding that it was time for African leaders and indeed concerned Civil Society Organisations and individuals to begin to assess the impact of these many recommendations.

It called on the President for equal distribution of human resources for the health sector across the country and increase in financial investments in Family Planning Commodities and Services.

ARHR also called for an increase in government financial investments in training of skilled human resources for the health sector especially nurses and midwives.