Ghana News

The Ministry of Health and partners have collectively called for safe maternal and newborn care in Ghana at the 3rd National Patient Safety and Healthcare Quality Conference in Accra. The conference, which culminated in the observation of the 2021 Patient Safety Day, was under the theme: “No Quality, No Coverage; Safe Maternal and Newborn Care Now”.
 

The World Health Organization has joined the Ministry of Health, the Ghana Health Service, and partners to launch the 2021 National Breastfeeding Week celebration under the theme, Protect Breastfeeding: A shared responsibility. 

This year’s event will focus on raising awareness and galvanizing action on protecting breastfeeding to improve public health. The week-long celebration will be marked with a call on stakeholders to make investments and commitments to support actions aimed at reducing   malnutrition amongst newborns, infants, and young children in Ghana.

Universal Health Coverage (UHC) has gained momentum, especially among developing countries. Ghana’s UHC Roadmap, launched in 2020, will shape health care in the country till 2030. 
Straightening all crooked paths leading to the achievement of UHC, where all people have access to the health services they need, when and where they need them, and without financial hardship requires a critical look at health sector reforms.

Over the past few decades, the maternal mortality rate in Ghana has seen a steady decline due to several factors and robust systems put in place to ensure safe pregnancy and delivery. Data available to the Ghana Health Service shows a total number of 875 maternal deaths in 2018 and 838 in 2019.  This figure further decreased to 776 in 2020 despite the increase in total deliveries while institutional maternal mortality ratio reduced from 117 in 2019 to 106 in 2020, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and all its associated impact.

The Norwegian Ambassador to Ghana, H E Gunner Andreas Holm has reiterated his government’s commitment to ensuring that other essential health services continue as the COVID-19 pandemic lingers on. He said this when he paid a courtesy call on WHO Country Representative, Dr Francis Kasolo at his office as part of his end of duty tour of Ghana.