By Samuel Ayammah, Upper East.
Members of the Upper East Regional House of Chiefs have described the high level of institutional maternal mortality as unacceptable.
They believe that the region is recording high levels of institutional maternal mortality, due to inadequacy of critical health staff at the various health facilities across the region.
President of the Upper East Regional House of Chief, Pe Ditundini Adiali Ayagitam, who is also the Paramount Chief of the Chiana in the Kassena-Nankana West District, said the chiefs will devise innovative measures in place to help to retain critical health care staff in the region.
The Chiefs also expressed worry over the high level of teenage pregnancy recorded in the region. This came to light at the 2nd General Meeting of the Upper East Regional House of Chief.
GBC’s Samuel Ayammah reports that members of the Upper East Regional House of Chiefs have appealed to the government through the Ministry of Health as a matter of urgency to post critical health care staff to the region and also put pragmatic measures in place to retain them.
Upper East recorded 24 maternal deaths mid-year 2021, being the highest recorded in the past 3 years. The region is also bedeviled with teenage pregnancy, as statistics from the Ghana Health Service revealed that the region recorded 1,6533 cases in 2020 and 1639 cases in the first quarter of 2021.
The Upper East Regional Director of Ghana Health Service, Dr. Emmanuel Dzotsi, who joined the chiefs at the meeting to officially introduce himself to them, appealed to the chiefs to embark on aggressive sensitization programs aimed at reducing early-marriages in their traditional areas.
‘’This is critical and urgent because the region is recording high numbers of maternal mortality, due to the high level of teenage pregnancies in the region’’.
President of the Upper East Regional House of Chiefs Pe Ditundini Adiali Ayagitam, attributed the high level of teenage pregnancy in the region, to the lack of access to sexual and reproductive health education among the youth.
‘’I believe that good sexual education would help the youth to make the right choices regarding their sexual lives. It is incumbent upon the chiefs in the region to henceforth provide the needed support to all health workers posted to this area.’’
The chiefs therefore pledged their readiness to rally behind the government on any policy or initiative geared towards the development of the region and Ghana as a whole.
