Dr Promise Sefogah, a Consultant Obstetrician Gynaecologist, has called for a national policy, standards and guidelines for routine Maternal Mental Health care programmes to identify, manage and prevent disorders. He said it was crucial to effectively ensure the healthy functioning of mothers and the optimal growth and development of their children. Dr Sefogah who doubles as a Health Services Management Consultant made the call when he presented findings and recommendations during a national dissemination conference on the Situational Analysis of Maternal Mental Health (MMH) in Ghana. It was organised by the Ghana Health Service (GHS) with funding support from the Foreign Commonwealth Development Office (UK-FCDO) in Accra. ?Maternal Mental Health refers to the mental well-being of women during pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period.? It encompasses a range of mental health conditions that can affect women during pregnancy including depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and psycho sis. These conditions can have significant implications for both the mother and her child, affecting bonding, caregiving, and long-term mental health outcomes. The situational analysis was, therefore, aimed to review the literature, existing policies, and state of maternal mental healthcare with the view to identify gaps for recommendations towards the integration of maternal mental health into routine maternity care in Ghana. Globally, the prevalence of maternal mental health problems is estimated to range from 18 per cent to 38 per cent.? In low and middle-income countries (LMICs), including Ghana, the prevalence rate is reportedly higher ranging from 15 per cent to 57per cent (Lund et al., 2014). Studies have shown that the weighted mean prevalence rates are 15.6 per cent during the prenatal period and 19.8 per cent for the postnatal period. In Ghana, a post-partum depression prevalence of 8.6 per cent, 3.1 per cent and 41 per cent have been reported among women who delivered at the primary, seconda ry and tertiary levels. Dr Sefogah stated that it was important for the government to consider education for stigma reduction, training, screening tools, practices and schedules, healthcare services and structure, policy, maternal health record book, and improved access to services and medications. He said there was a need for a multi-sectoral collaboration to guarantee the delivery of compassionate respectful clients for integrated maternal mental healthcare routinely. Mr Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, the Minister of Health, speaking on several efforts the government had made to ensure the provision of high-quality mental health services, commended the researchers for the assessment, adding that it would champion another feat in Ghana's health sector. He said the strengthening of the mental health system and ensuring that women had access to the support and care they needed during pregnancy and postpartum period was a collective effort that required all levels of society to provide high-quality sustainable materna l mental health services. The Minister assured that the Ministry of Health would provide the necessary leadership and direction to ensure the full implementation of the recommendations in the report. Dr Anthony Adofo, the Deputy Director-General, of Ghana Health Service, called for the need to prioritise improving access to maternal mental health services in a congenial atmosphere. He said that should be supported by the right skills mix and equitable distribution of healthcare workers with the capacity to deliver comprehensive and integrated maternal mental health services at all levels of care. Dr Adofo urged that?more awareness be created about addressing the mental health issues around pregnancy and childbirth to enable families to be more caring and conscious about the psychological well-being of mothers in the home and communities.? Dr Francis Kasolo, the World Health Organisation Country Representative, in a speech read on his behalf, said the dissemination of the status report was the first step in translating policy into action and congratulated the Ministry of Health and its agencies for conducting the assessment. He pledged that the WHO and its Partners would continue to work with the Ministry of Health and its Agencies to ensure that identified strengths and opportunities such as the Network of Practice (NoP) approach leveraged in developing specific interventions that promoted the integration of maternal mental health services into routine perinatal care across various levels of service delivery. That, he stated, would ensure improvement in the well-being of pregnant and postpartum women generally as well as focused intervention targeting those with vulnerabilities such as adolescent girls, women with disabilities and those who had suffered fetal loss. Other dignitaries at the event were representatives from the Mental Health Authority, the Development Director UK-FCDO, the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Ghana, the President of Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association, an d health workers. Source: Ghana News Agency