Ghana may not be able to achieve MDGs

Tamale, April 26, GNA - Dr Kofi Issah, District Director of Health for Savelugu/Nanton, says Ghana may not achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) if concerted efforts are not made to implement decisions toward the 2015 target.

He observed that the target year was only about nine years away and that considering how things were being done, the country would be lagging in development, especially in the health sector, which he said, needed urgent attention.

"Ghanaians are very good at producing brilliant ideas and proposals for programmes but when it comes to implementation they are found wanting," Dr Issah observed in remarks at a sensitisation workshop for Civil Society Organisations from the Upper East, Upper West and Northern Regions.

The Workshop was to afford the participants the opportunity to deliberate, discuss and offer suggestions toward the achievement of health related goals of the MDGs, which include reducing child mortality, improving maternal health and compacting HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases.

The workshop was organised by Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC) under the auspices of the Alliance for Reproductive Health Rights (ARHR) in collaboration with SEND Foundation, an NGO. Dr Issah noted that the commitment of heads of states in signing the MDGs in 2000 tied the developmental agenda of each nation to these goals and said this was reflected in the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy I and II.

He stressed the need for Civil Society Organisations and other stakeholders involved in working for the realization of the goals to harmonize their programmes because the MDGs are inter-related and will need to be implemented in an integrated manner.

He said maternal mortality in the country stood at 214 per 100,000 live births but studies carried out by the Navrongo Health Research Centre (NHRC) have put the figure as high as 800 per 100,000 live births.

The family planning acceptance rate is 4.4 children but the Northern region has the highest of 7.0 children while supervised delivery is at 53.4 per cent with improvement due to the free delivery scheme.

Dr Issah said a sentinel survey on HIV/AIDS showed a 2.7 per cent prevalence rate in the country but cautioned that this could be higher since most cases were not reported at the hospitals.

Malaria, he said, was the highest cause of hospital attendance at 43.5 per cent resulting in 17.1 of all deaths in health facilities. Dr Issah said among others there was the need to improve on the nutritional status of pregnant women and children, improve access to emergency obstetric care and family planning and reduce poverty. There was also the need to empower women, introduce community child survival interventions and improve upon the skills of health personnel to provide quality health care to the people.

Mrs Rosemond Kumah, Coordinator of the Northern Ghana Programmes of ISODEC, said as people on the ground her organisation knows that the communities in their areas where far from achieving the MDGs. She said the inequalities in the health care delivery in the country were manifested in terms of access to and quality of health services and information as well as health care finances.

She said for example about 70 per cent to 74 per cent of the Northern Ghana population travel more than 30 miles to reach the nearest health facility as compared to people in the southern sector of the country.