A Mother’s Plea

Maternal mortality in Ghana is on the ascendance due to many reason. My NGO took it upon ourselves to conduct a research.

Below are findings of research conducted on high maternal mortality rate in Ghana.

• Referrals still remain a problem in many districts. Three out of the five districts visited had no ambulance services. Although regional and district hospitals are well equipped to handle complicated labour cases, the main issue is how to timely transport women in labour to these facilities. The national ambulance service is said to be expensive (and probably not yet able to ensure district-based services);

• The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) does not cover the cost of conveying women in labour to the facilities. The fact that the additional costs of transporting the women in labour together with the responsible of family transporting pregnant women to the nearby hospital or health facility are not covered may be one of the major factors explaining the reluctance of mothers to deliver at the facility;

• Unavailable data set on maternal healthcare for systematic investigation into maternal health and lack of well-structured plans and procedures to check and assess where maternal health programmes are absent;

• Barriers to access to critical health services by families and communities, mainly due to inadequate financial capabilities of families or mothers, long distance to the health facility and low female literacy rate as well as poor health-seeking behaviors among the poor, and socio-cultural factors such as men’s influence in healthcare decision making.

Based on these findings from the study conducted, we have opted to undertake projects with regards the last two point.

Please help us raise fund to save pregnant women to reduce maternal mortality in Ghana.