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12.05.2012 Health

First Lady Launches Campaign To Reduce Maternal Death In Ashanti

By Daily Graphic
First Lady Launches Campaign To Reduce Maternal Death In Ashanti
12.05.2012 LISTEN

The First Lady, Mrs Ernestina Naadu Mills, has launched the Ashanti Regional Campaign for Accelerated Reduction in Maternal Mortality (CARMMA), in Kumasi, with a call on Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chiefs Executives (MMDCEs) to assist make the initiative a success.


She said reducing maternal deaths was dear to the hearts of many Ghanaians and it was, therefore, pertinent for MMDCEs, as policy makers and implementers at the local level, to get actively involved and mobilize additional resources to achieve this goal.


CARMMA is an initiative of the African Union Commission and it aims at curbing the continent’s high pregnancy-related deaths.


The First Lady, who was spearheading the campaign, encouraged all stakeholders - traditional leaders, district assemblies, faith-based organizations and other identifiable groups throughout the country, to mobilize resources to support activities aimed at promoting safe motherhood.


Mrs Naadu Mills asked the assemblies to collaborate the stakeholders to generate resources to aid maternal and new-born health.


She said ‘’Ghana must be able to report significant progress in the reduction of maternal deaths when it comes for it to account for its achievement in the Millennium Development Goal (MDG)-five by 2015’’.


Dr Kwaku Agyemang-Mensah, Regional Minister, said the country’s maternal mortality rate remained unacceptably high and blamed this on cultural and traditional practices that continued to put less value on the lives of women whose rights remain a mirage.


He noted that the assemblies had pivotal role to play in the dissemination of relevant information and other related issues about the campaign considering their strategic position in the administration of the nation.


Dr Agyemang-Mensah called on the assemblies, traditional authorities, women groups, civil society organizations and religious organizations to embrace the campaign by factoring issues of maternal health in their day-to-day engagement with the people.


Dr Bernard Coquelin, United Nations Fund for Population Activities Representative in Ghana, commended the First Lady for her active involvement in the campaign.

GNA

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