A pregnant woman who went to a prayer camp out of fear of a Caesarean Section (CS) was one of the four cases of maternal deaths reported in the Ledzokuku Municipality in 2022. The woman ultimately passed away during labor.
The Ledzokuku Municipal Director of Health Services, Madam Jacqueline Sfarijlani, claimed that all four cases were mostly brought on by pregnancy anemia, delayed reporting to medical facilities, and use of prayer camps and healing facilities owing to anxiety about C-sections (CS).
She said: “When a pregnant woman comes at 36 weeks and her HP is below 11, it is a risk factor because one of the causes of maternal mortality is haemorrhage (bleeding during the delivery process)”.
“So, if her HP is low and care is not taken or no intervention, we may lose her and that is one of the cases in Greater Accra and the Ledzokuku Municipality as well,” she said, adding that, often, pregnant women reported to the facilities late.
Six maternal fatalities were reported by the directorate in 2021. The Municipal Health Director cited the fear of CS as a serious issue and urged all interested parties to work together to debunk the service.
At the Ledzokuku Municipal Health Directorate’s 2022 Annual Performance Review meeting held at Teshie, Madam Sfarijlani gave an interview to the Ghana News Agency (GNA).
It was on the theme: “Addressing healthcare delivery gaps for equity in health coverage through intensifying health promotion interventions, optimising the use of data and technology to improve access to quality healthcare and strengthening preventive and control measures for emergent and re-emergent public health events”.
The meeting was to assess the work of health facilities in the Municipality in the previous year based on the objectives of the Ghana Health Service and discuss challenges, achievements, and learn best practices to improve health care coverage.
Madam Sfarijlani said key interventions for 2023 included sensitisation programmes for pregnant women on CS and dieting.She said the directorate was also working to reduce anaemia during pregnancy.
“A lot of work has been done to reduce maternal mortality, and we want to intensify our pregnancy schools, thus move the pregnancy schools from the facilities into the communities so that we get closer to them, we will talk to them about the interventions and ensure that we fortify their iron folate constantly to boost the iron in the blood.”
Presenting the health care coverage by the various facilities in the Municipality, Mr. Charles Banafo, the Administrator at the LEKMA Hospital, identified a reduction in antenatal care services, which had led to maternal complications during delivery.
He said: “We didn’t do well because they were not coming, if you are a pregnant woman, it is not a disease, but you need to come for antenatal services within the first trimester for us to see that everything is okay.”
He called on all, particularly husbands and relatives to commit themselves to the safety and well-being of pregnant women.
