Public Agenda (Accra)
Alberta Dudome
13 November 2009
Accra — The Minister of Health Designate, Dr Benjamin Kunbour, has assured Ghanaians that he will let maternal mortality become a thing of the past.
Dr. Kunbour said this during his vetting as Minister of Health designate at the Speakers Conference Room in Parliament, Accra.
Every year the lives of almost 4 million women and newborns in sub-Saharan Africa are lost during childbirth and in pregnancies. These lives could be saved every year if affordable health care interventions reached 90% of families in this region.
According to the director of Global Evidence and Policy Saving Newborn lives, Dr Joy Lawn, half of the world's maternal and child deaths each year occur in sub- Saharan Africa, where 265,000 mothers die during pregnancy or in childbirth.
She revealed that 1.2 million babies die in their first month of life, and an additional 3.2 million do not reach their fifth birthday. More of these deaths, she said, are due to direct obstetric complications, which occur around the time of childbirth; pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria and malnutrition are the major causes of children who do not get to age 5.
Dr. Lawn said poverty and equity are the underlying causes for many maternal, newborn and child deaths. 'These deaths occur in low - and middle income countries; maternal mortality is more than twice as high in the poorest households compared with the least poor households.' She also revealed that the cost of health care was unaffordable for many families in sub-Saharan Africa.
Dr. Lawn made these revelations at a press conference organized by the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences (GAAS) at the La Palm Royal Beach Hotel to begin the 50th Anniversary celebrations of the Academy in Ghana and the 5th annual conference of the African Science Academy Development Initiative (ASADI V) in Ghana. This activity is being hosted by Ghana to strengthen effective links between African science academies and national decion makers.
In her interaction, the director of Global Evidence and Policy Saving Newborn Lives/Save the Children, who is also a member of an editorial team that worked on a report titled SCIENCE IN ACTION, saving the lives of Africa's mothers, newborns and children, said that 880,000 stillbirths go largely unnoticed by global researchers and policymakers.
Since most African countries, are not on track to meet the Millennium Development Goals, she noted, there is the need to reduce under-five mortality by two -thirds (MDG4) and maternal mortality by three -fourths (MDG4) by 2015.
Ghana is said to have achieved a reduction in under-five mortality over the past five years as well as an increase in skilled attendance at birth. The only way to get on track for the Millennium Development Goals by 2015, however, is to invest in and track resources; implement promised mother, newborn and children commitments; and finally build the capacity of the media in this area.
The Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences was founded in November 1959 by Government Instrument of Incorporation. Its objective was to bring together the highest level of intellectuals, experts and professionals in the country to constitute a 'Think Tank' in the Arts and Sciences to enable it advise the Government of Ghana and other relevant bodies on issues of importance to national development.
One of its main objectives is also to promote the study, the extension and the dissemination of knowledge in all the Arts and Sciences. This is done mainly through Public lectures such as through the annual lectures in the humanities and sciences, J.B Danquah memorial lectures and Founders week lectures.
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