He said protecting the confidentiality of respondents enhances trust for future project, saying it was imperative for the field officers to apply what they have been taught to ensure that the data was of quality for policy decision.

Mr Wadieh gave the advice at the launch of 2017 Ghana Maternal Health Survey organised by the Ghana Statistical Service at Winneba in the Central Region, supported by the European Union, USAID, Ministry of Health and ICF International.

The survey collects data from a nationally-representative sample of households and women of reproductive age from 15-49.  The aim is to identify causes of maternal and non-maternal deaths and specifically deaths due to abortion related issues among adult women.

Mr Wadieh said the survey involved two phases-the first phase consisting of visiting about 900 selected areas to gather information about households and collecting information about death of female household members from 12 to 54 years that occurred in the last five years.

He said the second phase involved data collection which was expected to last for 120 days that is from Thursday June 15, 2017 to Thursday October 12, 2017.  He said field officers were deployed across the regions to collect the data for the exercise, saying in all, 133 participants were trained comprising 106 interviewers who were all females and 27 supervisors comprising eight females and 19 males.

Out of these participants, 125 have been selected for the data collection based on performance, while the remaining eight officers will serve as standby in case of attrition of field personnel. The Acting Government Statistician said 25 teams would be formed with each team consisting of a supervisor and four interviewers, and that the officers would use the Computer Assisted Personal Interview system for the collection of the data.

He explained that close communication would be monitored during the exercise and that quality control would be assured through supervision and monitoring of team during field work. Mr Wadieh said the trainees had sworn the Oath of Secrecy which was administered by a Magistrate so that if field officers divulged any unauthorised information, that person could be dealt with by the law.

He said the country had over the decades made substantial investments in improving maternal and neonatal health, with the view to attaining Millennium Development Goals (MDG) four and five. “In spite of these investments, the 2007 Maternal Health Survey, the 2010 Population and Housing Census and the estimation by the Maternal Mortality Estimation Inter-Agency Group in 2014, showed that the scale-up of essential maternal and reproductive health services were not sufficient to put Ghana on track to achieve the MDG targets.

He appealed to all Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies, households and communities that would be visited to provide the interviewers with the needed cooperation in the discharge of their duties.