GHANA NEEDS FIVE MORE YEARS TO ACHIEVE MDGs FOUR/FIVE-MCI COORD.

Nana Akuamoa- Boateng, Coord. of the Millennium Cities Initiative

Although Ghana will not be able to achieve the Millennium Development Goal Four and Five which mandate UN member countries to reduce child and maternal mortality by this year’s deadline, proper and adequate supervision could fast-track their achievement within the next five years. T

his is because supervision plays an important role in the health sector especially for mothers and children. 

The West and Central Africa Regional Millennium Cities Initiative Coordinator, Nana Abenaa Akuamoa-Boateng, made the observation in an interview with Ashanti Today, on the sidelines of the Kumasi Metropolitan Health Directorate’s Review meeting to evaluate its performance in 2014.

According to Nana Akuamoa-Boateng, a lot of resources have been channeled into training health personnel to enable them to help provide the needed service.

 However the nation is yet to enjoy the full benefits of the training and attributed this to the problem of lack of supervision, financial and logistical challenges. 

 She mentioned also health care providers, adequate equipment and the role played by communities as key areas that must be looked at in the country’s quest to achieve all the Millennium Development Goals. 

In her presentation, the Kumasi Metropolitan Health Information Officer, Sarah Fordah, explained that the health directorate priority for the year under review included improving vaccination coverage, detection and management of Tuberculosis cases, reduce maternal and child mortality, malnutrition and increase family planning coverage. 

She said the health directorate recorded a decrease in maternal mortality from 137 in 2013 to 121 in 2014. 

Madam Fordah further stated that there was an increase in the number of doctors from 57 to 60 with the number of midwives also increasing from 167 to 194 during the same period. 

On prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS, Madam Fordah noted that 22 thousand, 189 pregnant women were tested for HIV out of which 363 tested positive. 

She disclosed that under the year reviewed, the health directorate recorded 102 motherless and abandoned children. 

These children are being freely provided healthcare services by the Children’s Hospital. 

The Kumasi Metropolitan Director of Health, Dr. Kwasi Yeboah-Awudzi expressed satisfaction with the performance of the directorate during the year under review, particularly in the testing of newborns for the sickle cell disease. 

According to him, 84 per cent of all deliveries were screened for sickle cell, an improvement from 70 per cent in 2013. 

Dr. Yeboah-Awudzi said that in spite of the threat of both cholera and the Ebola diseases, the Kumasi metropolis did not record any case of Ebola, while out of the 19 confirmed cholera cases recorded, no one died from it.