Dignitaries at the launch of mothercraft
The Public Health Division of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital has launched a learning class for pregnant women and mothers.
The class dubbed ‘Mothercraft’ will be held on the first and third Saturdays of every month to educate pregnant women and mothers on a variety of maternal and child health issues, with the ultimate aim of equipping them with knowledge to make the right decisions about their health and that of their children.
The inaugural class, held last week at the out-patient department (OPD) of the Korle-Bu Maternity Department, took mothers through the benefits of the class and how it ties into the overall objective of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Dr Titus Beyuo, a consultant in obstetrician gynaecology at the hospital, disclosed that it is the expectation of the hospital that every woman who becomes pregnant would have a successful pregnancy and safe delivery no matter her background.
He said this vision is drawn from the aim of the country to meet the new Sustainable Development Goals as Ghana failed to meet the Millennium Development Goals which ended in 2015.
“We could not meet the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 because 318 out of 100,000 women still die from pregnancy-related issues now the target for 2030 is to reduce pregnancy related deaths to 70 out of 100,000 and I hope in KBTH it will be zero percent,” Dr Beyuo stated.
He said in order to achieve this, the effort of all stakeholders was needed to ensure pregnant women visit the ante-natal clinics during their pregnancy and post-natal clinics after delivery.
Deputy Director of Nursing Services (DDNS) at KBTH, Crystal Clottey, said the school was birthed out of the need to empower women with knowledge that can help them improve their well-being and that of their families.
She said the school which is being run under the sole sponsorship of the department would treat pertinent topics that affect women’s health, especially during pregnancy.
“The school will look at issues like what you need to do to become pregnant, when is the right time for you to become pregnant, myths about childbirth, breastfeeding, infant care, among others,” she said.
Mrs Clottey was, therefore, hopeful that through the class, the lives of many women would be saved through the application of the knowledge they would gain from the class.
“I urge every woman to make it a point to join this class twice a month so they can benefit from the rich knowledge that our resource persons will be sharing,” she said.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri