Participants in a group photo
The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has launched a campaign to improve access to quality care for pregnant women in the country.
The ‘Zero Tolerance for Preventable Maternal Deaths and Disabilities’ campaign seeks to remove barriers and unfair treatments that push women and girls with unintended pregnancies into undertaking activities that may lead to their untimely deaths or morbidities.
It also seeks to provide support for women and girls so they can avail themselves for timely family plnning methods to prevent unintended pregnancies.
Director-General of GHS, Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, officially launching the campaign in Accra said it would create an avenue for women with unintended pregnancies to avail themselves for the best and safest abortion techniques.
That, he said, would in turn save their lives and ensure a timely family planning to prevent further unintended pregnancies.
“The campaign simply means that no woman or girl in Ghana should engage in unsafe abortion due to social stigma or financial limitations,” the Director General, said.
He called on society to end all forms of stigma and unfair treatment against women and girls seeking safe abortion care.
Director, Family Health Division at the GHS, Dr. Kofi Issah, said the slow decline of maternal mortality in Ghana was of great concern to the Ministry of Health, Ghana Health Service and Partners.
He said the country aims to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target of 70 deaths per 100 000 live births by 2030 among other targets through the adoption of the Universal Health Coverage agenda.
Dr. Issah said the two major causes of pregnancy and childbirth related deaths were excessive bleeding and hypertensive diseases and that interventions focused on the causes, would significantly reduce the risk of maternal deaths.
“The role of family planning in reducing preventable maternal deaths has long been identified and that justifies the new national policy of including clinical family planning methods into the NHIS minimum benefit package for women,” he said.
Dr. Issah said evidence showed that nearly half of pregnancies were unintended and a significant proportion of women in their reproductive age with unintended pregnancies resorted to abortion.
He observed that unfortunately, abortion-related maternal deaths, though highly preventable, remained under-reported due to stigma.
“For fear of social embarrassment or incurring huge costs, women and girls have had to resort to undignified abortion methods or the use of obnoxious substances that could either end their lives or leave them with life-changing complications, including infertility and psychological trauma,” he said.
Dr. Issah said maternal mortality was an issue of national concern, hence the need for appropriate emergency preparedness and a multi-sectoral approach to end abortion related deaths.
Naa Korkor Aedzieoyi I, Queen Mother of Adabraka, lauded the NHIS for adding family planning to its benefit package.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri