Mrs Bawumia handing over the birth kits to one of the beneficiaries
Wife of the vice president, Samira Bawumia, has launched the ‘Safe Delivery Project’ at Salaga in the East Gonja Municipality of the Northern Region.
The project, themed ‘Promoting Safe Deliveries & Ensuring Healthy Infants; Securing Our Future’, will contribute to the reduction in maternal mortality from the current reported level of 319 deaths per 100,000 live births (Ministry of Health, October 2017) to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals’ target of 70 per 100,000 live births.
The project was launched in the East Gonja District because of its high rate of mortality.
Mrs Bawumia, in her keynote address, stated that though there are many issues as far as women’s health is concerned in Ghana, maternal health with its associated maternal and neonatal mortality is the greatest and the most heart-breaking.
“It is against this background that my not-for-profit organisation the Samira Empowerment & Humanitarian Projects (SEHP) has initiated the SEHP Safe Delivery Project to support their efforts. The need to improve maternal health and ensure safe deliveries requires attention from all sectors of our society,” she disclosed.
100,000 Birth Kits
Mrs Bawumia explained that over the next few years, SEHP will provide up to 100,000 well-resourced birth kits to expectant mothers all across the country.
“The kit contains medicines and supplies (Misoprostol tablets, pre-natal and post-natal vitamins and mineral supplements, medicated soap, gauze swab, cord clamps, cord sheet, sterile blade, delivery mat, cord ties, sterile gloves, combine dressing, baby hat, name tag, cord sheets, and methylated spirit) which will all be distributed by trained community based volunteers and health personnel to 100,000 expectant mothers in the worst affected communities in Ghana,” she added.
Mrs Bawumia pointed out that the beneficiaries will receive information on the use, importance and impact of these birth kits and will have their kits with them during labour.
Additionally, she hinted that senior midwives will train traditional birth attendants (TBAs) and nurses on how to effectively use the birth kits and ensure safe delivery practices for the expectant mothers in the absence of a nearby health facility.
Mrs Bawumia urged the chiefs and people of the East Gonja District to support the project to be a success to enable quality health delivery in the area.
“I would like to acknowledge the contribution of our mother, First Lady Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo, towards the health and well-being of women and children. Again thank you all for being part this project by being here today. Together, we can reduce maternal mortality. Together we can save lives of our newborn babies. Together we can ensure the well being of the women of Ghana,” she said.
The beneficiaries of the first deliveries of the birth kits were residents of six sub-districts within East Gonja, namely Kpalbe, Makango, Bunjai, Buma, Jantong and Salaga.
SHEP
The Samira Empowerment & Humanitarian Projects (SEHP) is not-for-profit organisation instituted by Mrs Bawumia with the health objective to provide vital health interventions to children, women and medical institutions.
The ‘Safe Delivery Project’ was developed in an effort to improve the survival chances of mothers and newborns by addressing some of the major causes of maternal and neonatal mortality- postpartum haemorrhage, hypertensive disorders and infections.
With the hope of contributing its quota to society, SEHP aims to establish a sustainable basic birth kit supply system that can potentially be scaled up by the government.
FROM Eric Kombat, Salaga