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24.12.2017 Social News

Mother-Baby Project Extends Education On Maternal Health To Bongo District

By GNA
Mother-Baby Project Extends Education On Maternal Health To Bongo District
24.12.2017 LISTEN

The Mother Baby Friendly Health Facility (MBHI) Project has held a durbar in the Bongo District of the Upper East Region to sensitize stakeholders on the need for pregnant women to access regular antenatal and postnatal care.

It was held to promote the importance and the need for pregnant women and lactating mothers to access regular antenatal and postnatal care to help reduce infant and neonatal deaths.

The two-year project which focuses on advocacy and focus group discussions to increase awareness and demand for ante-natal and post-natal services, early initiation to breastfeeding within 30 minutes after birth, exclusive breastfeeding and promoting basic new-born care, covers two districts and two municipalities including the Kassena-Nankana West and Bongo Districts, and the Bolgatanga and Bawku Municipalities in the Upper East Region.

The Community Dunbar which was organized by the Integrated Youth Needs and Welfare (INTYON), a Non-Governmental Organization in the Upper East Region at Dua-Yikine in the Bongo District, was part of the MBHI Project funded by UNICEF.

The durbar brought together chiefs, assembly members, the Christian Mothers Associations of the Catholic Church, women groups of the Ghana Red cross as well as women groups from the community.

The event witnessed cultural performances - traditional songs, drama and recitations to educate and sensitize the community on the need to regularly visit the health facilities during pregnancy and after delivery.

Mr Bentin Cabral, the Focal Person of the MBHI project, who is also the Nutrition Officer of the District, said the MBHI is aimed at promoting exclusive breastfeeding as well as increasing the number of women accessing antennal and postnatal in the communities in the district.

Mr Cabral commended the INTYON for collaborating with the Ghana Health Service, UNICEF, and the Bill and the Melinda Gates Foundation to support the project, saying 'the health facilities in this area are now Mother-Baby friendly because the nurses and midwives are very friendly to the pregnant women.'

Mr Daniel Atinga the Assemblyman for Dua-Yikene-Apowongo in the Bongo District said the community lacked portable water and this is affecting quality health service delivery.

He said many of the good water sources in the communities in the district have high content of fluoride and that was also affecting the services of the Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPs).

Mr Atinga said in his electoral area, one of the two boreholes the people depended on had been cupped because of its high fluoride content and many depended on the streams and rivers.

Mr Issah Ibrahim, the Chief Executive Officer of INTYOM, appealed to the government, the Assembly and philanthropist to equip and expand the Gulkpegu-Dungu-Yelpalsinaa health facility to enable it cater for the increased numbers of pregnant women who patronize the facility.

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