A GNA feature by Bertha Badu-Agyei
Koforidua, Oct. 29, GNA – The quest to reduce maternal deaths requires that all hands must be on deck to tackle gaps and barriers fuelling maternal deaths in the Eastern Region.
Communities, families, and women themselves have a role to play in ensuring that all barriers are removed from prompt access to medical care during pregnancy and delivery, especially at remote areas where these preventable deaths normally occur.
Dr Winfred Ofosu, Eastern Regional Director of Health says apart from accessing medical care, preparations such as making alternative arrangements for transportation and logistics towards delivery were critical to reducing maternal deaths.
The Eastern Region between January-June this year has recorded 63 institutional maternal deaths already and he described it as an alarming situation.
This figure he said was institutional, meaning it is not all maternal deaths at health facilities across the districts, are reported at facilities at all” he said.
Dr Ofosu said there were several community factors leading to maternal deaths and mentioned refusal of referrals to higher facilities, delay in seeking health care, and refusing surgical interventions.
Others are taking concoctions from herbalists, preferring untrained aids or traditional birth attendants to hospital delivery, and refusing admissions and financial constraints.
“These are the reasons why the Regional Health Directorate is seeking everyone’s support to remove all barriers that push women and girls with unintended pregnancies leading to untimely deaths, in spite of all our interventions to reduce such deaths.”
In pursuant to getting all involved in reducing maternal deaths, the Eastern Region Health Directorate this year launched “Zero Tolerance for Maternal Deaths” a campaign which primarily aims at reducing intended pregnancies among women and girls through the provision of safe abortion and family planning services.
The campaign further sought to support people to avail themselves of the best and safest techniques for terminating unwanted pregnancies to save their lives in addition to the integration of Comprehensive Abortion Care (CAC) into Reproductive Health services.
Refusal of referrals to higher facilities and refusing surgical interventions, delay in seeking healthcare and refusing admissions, visiting herbalists for concoctions, and preferring Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) to hospital delivery as well as financial constraints are some of the key community factors identified in maternal deaths in the Eastern Region.
“The problem is that many pregnant women still visit herbalists instead of Antenatal Clinics and only come to the health facility when complications are stretched whilst others do not make adequate preparations and are therefore caught up with financial difficulties which delays visit to a health facility,” adding delivery is not an emergency it’s a nine months journey for preparation.
Ghana’s maternal mortality ratio declined from 760 per 100,000 live births from 1990 to 319 per 100,000 live births in 2015, the pace of decline in maternal mortality rate has been slow and this led to Ghana’s inability to achieve the Millennium Development Goal target of 190 per 100,000 live births in 2015.
Most maternal deaths occur in rural areas as compared to urban areas with a prevalence of skilled birth attendance of about 75 percent in urban areas and 43 percent in rural areas, experts note that most maternal deaths occur as a result of unwanted pregnancies leading to unsafe abortions.
The use of concoctions such as herbs and alcoholic beverages in terminating unwanted pregnancies is very common in rural communities as many refuse to seek abortion services from health facilities due to stigma and other unexplained factors.
Sadatu, a 21-year-old trade apprentice lost her life at Dedeso, a farming community in the Fanteakwa district, she started bleeding in the last trimester and was given concoctions by an herbalist whom she had been taking herbal medicines, after several attempts to stop the bleeding failed, her family was asked to send her to the health facility, delay in getting transportation and mobilization resulted in her death.
Like Sadatu, many women have lost lives through maternal complications, delays in accessing healthcare, use of concoctions and many factors which medical experts note could be prevented once every stakeholder including the pregnant woman, partner, family, and community got involved in ensuring that no life was lost in the course of giving birth.
Many such cases have been identified as factors contributing to maternal deaths in rural communities because accessibility to health facilities due to distance and poor road network as well as lack of financial logistics exacerbates the delay in receiving medical care.
Health staff, therefore, advise that every pregnant woman should visit antenatal care as early as pregnancy is noticed and follow the visiting protocols so every condition could be detected early to determine treatment and care during delivery.
A Ghana Health Service data shows that a total of 875 maternal deaths occurred in 2018, 838 in 2019, and 776 in 2020 whiles the institutional maternal mortality ratio reduced from 117 in 2019 to 106 in 2020 per every 100,000 live births.
Maternal health according to the World Health Organization (WHO) is a human rights issue which member states must do all it takes to prevent from occurring, whiles the state plays its role its important for all others to recognise that the way out is seeking medical care right from the inception of pregnancy or seek comprehensive abortion services at health facilities to prevent complications which leads to death.
GNA