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The Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, has underscored the need for a multifaceted approach towards achieving improvement in maternal health care in the country.
“Maternal health care is not just delivering a baby but it is rather about ensuring the well-being of the mother before, during and not after childbirth,” he stressed.
To achieve this, he said, there was the need for an all-inclusive approach including proper skilled care, access to essential services and a supportive environment for both mother and child”.
Kuma-Aboagye was speaking during the 2024 Upper East Regional mid-year performance review meeting of the GHS in Bolgatanga last Friday.
It was on the theme: “Using NoP to drive universal access to quality maternal health care in the Upper East Region”.
The Networks of Practice (NoP) initiative focuses on the primary healthcare level, specifically aimed at improving the quality of health services, fostering partnerships and driving innovation.
The overall goal is to increase access to quality essential health care and population-based services for all by 2030 as well as enable health providers to work in concert to deliver health services within a geographical area.
He stated that the NoP was not just another concept but a practical approach that when fully embraced could transform maternal health care across the country for the benefit of all.
He said the GHS could leverage NoP to drive universal access to quality maternal health care through promoting knowledge sharing and continuous exchange of skills among health professionals.
This, he said, was crucial in keeping the health workers updated with the latest maternal healthcare practices and innovations, thereby improving the quality of care provided, stressing “through the networks, best practices can be shared quickly and efficiently”.
If a particular approach to reducing maternal mortality is working in one district, the NoP can ensure it is rapidly adopted across all districts within the region so that no district is left behind,” Dr Aboagye said.
While urging health workers to make the NoP the backbone of the strategy to achieve universal access to quality maternal health care, he entreated them to work collaboratively and strive for excellence in every aspect of maternal health care.
The Upper East Regional Director of Health Services, Dr Samuel K. Boakye-Boateng, said it was sad that the region had recorded an increase in the number of maternal deaths within the period under review.
Giving statistics, he said a total of 24 maternal deaths were recorded between January-June this year as compared to 15 deaths for the same period in 2023.
He stressed that the region’s quest for zero tolerance for maternal deaths could only be achieved if all stakeholders collaborated effectively to strengthen community and health facility factors that continued to linger and thwart efforts aimed at eliminating potential maternal deaths.
The KOICA CHPS + Project phase II Project Manager, Myeong Seon Kim, in a remark, said focus should not only be on improving access to healthcare services but also on strengthening the capacity of health facilities to provide immediate high-quality services, particularly for managing high-risk mothers and newborns.
The Upper East Regional Minister, Alhaji Dr Hafiz Bin Salih, urged the health workers to continue to work as a team of health professionals to ensure that every mother everywhere had the opportunity to experience a safe and healthy pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum period.
He stated that the government would continuously invest in health infrastructure, training of health professionals and improving the availability of essential medicines.
