Negative Cultural Pratices Leading to Pregnant Womens’ Deaths
Datuku (Upper East) - Mrs. Rosemond Azure, the district director in charge of health services in the Talensi-Nabdam district, has expressed concern over how some communities in the Upper East Region do not allow some pregnant women to visit health facilities on the basis of cultural beliefs. This has led to any number of of maternal deaths.
She voiced her worries during a community forum organized by the Datuku Local Civic Coalition Group in Datuku. The group was formed through the initiative of Grass Roots Africa, a non-governmental organization working in the areas of poverty reduction and strengthening of political, economic and social rights of the marginalized groups. The aim of the initiative is to complement government efforts by identifying the pertinent needs of communities and presenting them to government through district assemblies.
Mrs. Azure explained that most of the family heads in the district has the belief that pregnant women should consult soothsayers and perform “rituals” to facilitate delivery in lieu of getting medical prenatal care. She indicated that such negative cultural practices had led to the death of a lot of pregnant women in some parts of the Region, which could have been prevented.
She appealed to traditional authorities, assembly members, and opinion leaders among others, to educate family heads on the importance of allowing their pregnant women to attend health facilities, and also to encourage them to continue to access the free prenatal care. Mrs. Azure said her department would soon embark on organizing durbars and sensitization programmes to educate communities on the need to encourage pregnant women to go for prenatal check-ups. She stated that the GHS was doing everything possible to prevent maternal mortality, hence the introduction of the Free Medical Care programme for pregnant women.
The Capacity Building Officer of Grass Roots Africa, Mr James Awuni, said his organization had empowered a lot of communities in the Talensi-Nabdam District with organization skills, allowing them to discuss pertinent issues affecting them, and consequently forward them to the appropriate quarters for redress. He said Grass Root Africa was organizing capacity building programmes for some communities in the Bongo, Kassena-Nankana and Kassena-Nankana West districts in the Region, all aimed at empowering the people to also actively participate in governance at the community levels.
The Project is being sponsored by the Department for International Development (DFID), in partnership with the Ghana Refuges Welfare Groups (GHARWEG) and Community Partnership for Health and Development (CPHD).
Source: GNA
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