Dr Hilarius Abiwu, Deputy Northern Regional Director of Health in-charge of Public Health, has said the region recorded 80 maternal deaths in the first nine months of this year. He said the key challenge contributing to the high mortality was anemia among pregnant women, which significantly increased risk of hemorrhage during delivery. Dr Abiwu was speaking during the Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst (DAAD) German Academic Exchange Service Alumni workshop in Tamale, which focused on improving maternal health care in the northern part of the country. The three-day workshop was on the theme: 'Improving Maternal Health in Northern Ghana: The Role of the DAAD Alumni.' The workshop also provided a platform for midwifery students to be educated on key issues affecting their profession outside the classroom, and how they could contribute to improving maternal health in the country. Dr Abiwu said there was a low uptake of adolescent health services resulting in early unwanted pregnancies and heightened complications for young mothers. He said maternal mortality had increased around an alarming 300 per 100,000 live births in the Northern Region falling far short of the SDGs target of less than 70. He called on the media to raise awareness on the persistent gaps and challenges in maternal health spotlighting local solutions, and successes to counter inertia and apathy, and promote healthy behaviour and care-seeking by women. Professor Gideon Helegbe, Vice Dean, School of Medicine, University for Development Studies, and Convenor of the DAAD Alumni workshop, appealed to stakeholders to improve on the implementation of the free maternal health policy to enable pregnant women access quality free maternal health care. Professor Kennedy Alatinga, Dean, Faculty of Planning and Land Management, Simon Diedong Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studies called for prioritisation of maternal health care to ensure the availability of supplies and consumables to promote quality maternal health care delivery. Mr Mahama Tenii, Reproductive Health Programme Specialist at United Nations Population Fund, called on government to improve the ambulances, and poor road infrastructure connecting rural communities.

Source: Ghana News Agency