By Morkporkpor Anku
Accra, Nov. 28, GNA –Researchers say Ghana’s health system must strengthen its responsiveness to the mental health needs of pregnant women and frontline health workers to improve overall healthcare outcomes.
Professor Irene Agyepong, Co-Principal Investigator and Ghana Team Lead, emphasised that a healthy workforce was essential for delivering responsive and equitable healthcare.
Prof Agyepong was speaking at the National Forum and Policy Dialogue on Maternal and Frontline Health Worker Mental Health in Ghana (The Response Project) in Accra.
The Forum is to inform policy and practice in the provision of holistic maternal and frontline health, worker mental health support and care in Ghana and to stimulate dialogue, decision-making, and advocacy on solutions.
The project is aimed at understanding and improving health systems’ responsiveness to the needs of vulnerable groups, of which pregnant women are one, regarding common mental health disorders at the primary healthcare level in Ghana.
It is a collaborative study between international researchers across the globe, comprising the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons, the Ghana Health Service, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and the University of Melbourne, Australia.
Global estimates show that depression, anxiety and stress affect about 15 per cent of women during pregnancy and 20 per cent after childbirth.
Yet, these conditions often go undetected and untreated, posing serious risks to both mother and child.
Frontline health worker mental health, although crucial for effective service delivery, also remains neglected.
She said when health workers themselves experience untreated stress, anxiety or depression, it affects their ability to provide compassionate, timely and effective care.
She said psychological well-being in pregnancy and postpartum was crucial to mothers’ and children’s health; however, mental health was often the most neglected aspect of maternal health.
She said a truly responsive health system should recognise the intersectional nature of vulnerability and effectively identify and respond to the neglected health needs of vulnerable groups, such as maternal mental health.
“It is particularly important within the context of low and middle-income countries (LMICs), where power differentials between health providers and service users are often heightened due to substantial information asymmetry between these groups, which contributes to perceptions of risks in pregnancy being most shaped by healthcare providers,” she said.
Professor Agyepong said awareness creation, open conversation, early detection, timely intervention and practical support for frontline health workers were critical.
The Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service should include mental health screening, support, and care for frontline health workers.
“Capacity in conflict management is recommended for leadership and management at all levels,” she added.
Professor Agyepong said health facility leadership should ensure an enabling environment that supports the general well-being of the health staff, particularly their mental health.
Professor Tolib Mirzoev, Principal Investigator, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK, said the researchers aimed to understand better and contribute to improved health systems’ responsiveness to neglected health needs of vulnerable groups in Ghana and Vietnam.
He said the project developed transferable best practices for scalability and generalisability of the pilot-tested interventions and strengthened research capacity by extending existing collaborations into strong South-South and South-North exchange and learning within and between Ghana, Vietnam, Australia and the UK.
GNA
Edited by Christian Akorlie