Ambulance service provider, the St John Ambulance Ghana, has launched a mother and baby programme, a community-based maternal and newborn health initiative to strengthen community participation in health care and to contribute to efforts to reduce preventable maternal and newborn deaths in the country.
The programme seeks to bring maternal and newborn health education and support closer to families through community volunteer mobilisation, health education, behaviour change communication, early recognition of danger signs, timely referral and stronger links between communities and primary healthcare services.
The initiative, launched in Accra on the theme: “Healthy mothers, healthy babies, sttronger communities: Advancing free primary health care through mother and baby care”, brought together representatives of the Ministry of Health, the Ghana Health Service (GHS), the Ashiedu Keteke Municipal Assembly, the Ussher Fort Hospital, the Accra Metropolitan Health Directorate, traditional and community leaders, and volunteers of St John Ambulance Ghana and other stakeholders.
The Queenmother of Asere Amartse We Clan of Sakumo, Naa-Amorkor Shikafutru I, led a group of queenmothers to grace the occasion.
Purpose
Delivering an overview of the programme, the Programme Coordinator, Gloria Ganah, indicated that the initiative was timely for families and communities, stressing that the journey to receive appropriate care often began in the community.
She explained that the Mother & Baby Programme would focus on health education, community volunteer mobilisation, positive health-seeking behaviours, early recognition of danger signs, timely referral and stronger connections between communities and health facilities.
Ms Ganah stressed that St John Ghana was not seeking to establish a parallel healthcare system, but rather to complement and strengthen existing government primary healthcare interventions.
The Chief Executive Officer of St John Ghana, Dr Anthony Kwame Apedzi, mentioned that the programme was being launched at an important period of Ghana's health sector, particularly as the country develops its next Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child, Adolescent Health and Nutrition Strategy (RMNCAHN) for 2026–2030.
He said St John Ghana’s objective was to provide community-level implementation capacity to complement the work already being undertaken by the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service (GHS).
Dr Apedzi said the programme would leverage St John’s community health volunteers to provide maternal and newborn health education, promote behaviour change and educate families on referral systems, enabling them to make informed health decisions and access skilled care at the appropriate time.
The Chairman of the Order of St John, Prof. Agyeman Badu Akosa, who chaired the event, said when women received quality care throughout pregnancy, childbirth and the postnatal period, and newborns were given the best possible start in life, families thrived, communities prospered and national development was strengthened.
In his keynote address read by the Chief Director, Desmond Boateng, the Minister of Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, said the launch reaffirmed the impactful service and contribution of St John Ambulance Ghana to healthcare delivery and community development.
