Maternal Deaths Still High - Minister

Accra,(Greater Accra Region) 14 Oct. Dr. Eunice Brookman-Amissah, Minister of Health (MOH), said today that though Ghana has made great progress in health care delivery, it has not done well in reducing maternal deaths. She said until recently, when the safe motherhood initiative was introduced, very little had been done to make pregnancy and child birth safer. Dr. Brookman-Amissah was addressing a dissemination seminar on a mothercare research project carried out in the Eastern Region within the last two years. The research conducted by the MOH, the Ghana Registered Midwives Association (GRMA) and IPAS, an international reproductive health organisation, studied the feasibility of introducing registered midwives to the provision of Post Abortion Care (PAC) in their facilities. Dr. Brookman-Amissah said, ''many of our women still die unnecessarily as a direct result of pregnancy and unsafe abortion remains one of the major causes of death and morbidity, especially among young women''. It is estimated that over a quarter of all maternal deaths are the result of unsafe abortions, she added. Dr. Brookman-Amissah said while in the past doctors were trained to treat cases of incomplete abortions, they are now being trained in new methods of providing special, safe and comprehensive post abortion care. In Ghana where a few doctors are concentrated in the cities while the greater number of people are in the rural areas, exclusive dependence on doctors alone for care will result in an unmet need for post abortion care. ''It is against this background that in 1995, the MOH, the GRMA and IPAS initiated a project to test the feasibility, appropriateness, safety and acceptability of training midwives to provide comprehensive care''. She urged the participants to focus discussions on the policies, regulations, protocols, training programmes and management systems that will ensure that the results of the study are replicated throughout the country. Dr. Aaron Offei, Eastern Regional Director of Health Services, said the research has provided an important step and dimension in the search for reducing maternal mortality not only in Ghana but in other developing countries. The research has increased community awareness on abortion and its complications in the districts and the staff who took part are using their experience to assist others to strengthen the reproductive health programme in the region.