Advocates plan to improve maternal, child health with life-saving commodities
When Mr J.A. Saaka sought the mandate of the electorate in Bole/Bamboi to represent them in Parliament, his main aim was to bring the concerns of his people to bear on the formulation of the laws that govern the country.
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Confronted with the grave situation of maternal and newborn deaths in his constituency, Mr Saaka, a parliamentarian, was compelled to take up the additional role of an advocate for maternal and child health in the country.
“I have seen too many women and children die from childbirth in my area. My mother gave birth to nine children but only five survived and I saw her having to deal with the deaths of the children she lost,” he said.
Mr Saaka also mentioned the influence of culture, citing the practice in his constituency of women choosing to deliver on their own at home to prove their faithfulness to their partners, as the cultural belief is that women who deliver in hospitals have been unfaithful.
Advocacy workshop
To improve on his advocacy skills, Mr Saaka joined other advocates from organisations working in the areas of reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health in a three-day advocacy strategy development workshop for scaling up life-saving commodities, programmes and services for women, newborns and children.
The workshop, organised by PATH Ghana, an international NGO, on behalf of the USAID-funded Maternal, Child Health Integrated Programme (MCHIP), was to engage and support country partners to lead advocacy efforts for life-saving commodities, programmes and services.
Life-saving commodities
In 2012, the United Nation’s (UN) Commission on Life-Saving Commodities for Women and Children (the Commodities Commission) was formed as part of the global Every Woman Every Child (EWEC) movement.
The Commodities Commission challenges the global community to increase access to and appropriate use of critical medicines and health supplies that effectively address the leading preventable causes of death during pregnancy, childbirth, and early childhood.
A report released by the Commodities Commission prioritises 13 reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health (RMNCH) commodities that can prevent and treat many of the leading causes of death in low-income countries.
The report further outlines 10 bold and innovative actions that catalyse changes in the way the 13 commodities are produced, distributed, and used to save the lives of six million women and children over five years.
According to Dr Michel Pacque, a member of the UN Commission on Life-Saving Commodities, not all the 13 priority commodities are found in each country. “Ghana currently has access to three of these life-saving maternal health commodities,” he said.
These are magnesium sulphate, the drug of choice recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for treatment of pre-eclampsia and eclampsia, which is the second cause of maternal death, and oxytocin and misoprostol, both of which are used for the management of Postpartum Haemorrhage (bleeding after delivery), the leading cause of maternal death.
Dr Pacque said the Commission was working with the WHO to ensure that these products were prequalified to make sure that women and children get good quality medicines and products.
Ghana has put in place several strategies to improve reproductive, maternal, child and neonatal health, however, to be able to advance the strategies to benefit the nation, it is important for relevant medicines, equipment and devices to be sourced from the UN Commission on Life-saving Commodities.
He expanded that Government, non-governmental organisations and other partners all had a role to play in advocating for commodity, programme, and service related policies at the national and sub-national levels.
That is why PATH has developed a participatory workshop curriculum to bring together health programmers and advocates to develop advocacy strategies targeted at changing policies and resource allocations in support of expanded access to reproductive, maternal, neonatal and child health (RMNCH) commodities, services and programmes, Dr Pacque stated.
Policy advocacy strategy
Ms Patience Dapaah, Advocacy Advisor to PATH, said the workshop targeted governmental, non-governmental and quasi-governmental health institutions concerned with reproductive, maternal, newborn, and/or child health with the objective to help them identify the critical components of a policy advocacy strategy for RMNCH commodities, programmes and services in Ghana.
She said it was expected among others, that the participants will be able to identify the critical components of a policy advocacy strategy and specific policy change solutions to improve access and availability of RMNCH commodities, programmes, and services.
For Mr Saaka, participating in the workshop has heightened his resolve to “be a louder voice in parliament and the corridors of power than I have been.”
He noted that even at the community level, politicians could contribute to reduction in maternal and newborn deaths by ensuring that they had access to skilled care and particularly, the life-saving commodities and services needed.
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