Ghana is grappling with a troubling drop in maternal and child health outcomes, even as the number of trained health workers continues to rise.
This was the stark message delivered by Dr. Kennedy Brightson, Director for Public Health at the Ghana Health Service, during the 5th Maternal, Child Health and Nutrition Conference in Accra.
Dr. Brightson revealed that between 2022 and 2024, major health indicators—including skilled delivery coverage, adolescent antenatal attendance, and child immunisation- have all witnessed steady declines. Most alarming, he said, is the increase in maternal deaths: 806 in 2022, 861 in 2023, and 819 in 2024. “Eight hundred maternal deaths a year is not something we should ever accept,” Dr. Brightson stressed to conference participants.
The conference, themed “Strengthening Free Primary Health Care – Accelerating Equity and Access to Reproductive, Maternal, Child, Adolescent and Nutrition Services towards attainment of the SDG 2030,” brought health experts together to call for urgent investments in primary health care, nutrition, and improved quality of care. These measures, they agreed, are critical to preventing avoidable deaths and curbing rising complications among women and children.
A growing concern is the incidence of Visico-Vaginal Fistula (VVF), a debilitating childbirth injury that leaves women incontinent. While specialists repair some cases, limited funding means only 80 fistula repairs are targeted for 2025, leaving many women without help.
Dr. Brightson called for stronger health financing, more robust supply chains, better coordination among government agencies, and expanded community health systems. “Primary health care is the backbone of our health system. If it fails, mothers, newborns, children, adolescents, and the elderly will pay the price,” he warned.
Other conference speakers highlighted a silent nutrition crisis, pointing to the rising consumption of ultra-processed foods and unhealthy dietary habits, which are fueling high rates of micronutrient deficiencies among women and children.
Dr. Maxwell Bisala Konla, a dietitian at the University of Ghana Hospital, urged the government to make healthy diets more affordable and to integrate nutrition services into every primary health care encounter. Meanwhile, Dr. Promise Sefogah, General Secretary of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Ghana (SOGOG), pressed for urgent policy action to support women during the menopausal transition and for universal access to respectful, quality obstetric care.
Source: Apexnewsgh.com
