Two organisations launch campaign to improve child life

Studies have established that children in Ghana are confronted with a number of protection and development challenges, including health.

Available statistics indicate that Ghana has made significant progress in improving maternal and child health through reforms of the health sector and the initiation of pro-poor policies.

According to UNICEF (2013), the infant mortality rate in Ghana reduced from 76 per 1,000 live births to 52 per 1,000 live births in 2011, while under-five mortality reduced from 121 per 1,000 in 1990 to 78 per 1,000 in 2011.

The statistics also indicate that by 2012, the child mortality rate in Ghana was 72 per 1,000 live births, meaning there has been a reduction in child mortality by 44 per cent since 1990.

The efforts and progress notwithstanding, maternal, newborn and child mortality levels remain high in Ghana.

UNICEF 2013 Progress Report

According to UNICEF 2013 Progress Report, about 18,000 children across the world—most of whom are in the developing countries— die from preventable diseases before their fifth birthday.

The results of MICS 2011 on Ghana indicate that infant and under-five mortality rates are still very high—53 deaths per 1,000 live births and 82 per 1,000 live births, respectively.

The statistics indicate that neonatal mortality rate represents 60 per cent of the infant mortality rate while 13 per cent of children under five years of age are moderately or severely underweight and 57 per cent of all children aged six to 59  months are anaemic.

The unacceptably high rate of child and maternal mortality rates are attributable to a number of factors including inadequate funding, poor attitude of health staff, slow implementation of existing policies, leading to poor service delivery, procurement failures, limited access of vulnerable communities to health services, poor nutrition, hygiene and sanitation practices.

Global advocacy campaign

It is against this background that World Vision (WV), in collaboration with the Ghana Coalition of Non-Governmental Organisations in Health (GCNH), has embarked on a global advocacy campaign dubbed: ‘Child Health Now’ (CHN), which focuses on achieving the goal of reducing the preventable deaths of children below five years.

The goal of the campaign in Ghana is to contribute to a sustained reduction in maternal and under-five mortality rate, in line with Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 4 and 5, through the promotion of government policy dialogue and citizens’ empowerment by the end of the year 2015.

MDG 4 aims at reducing child mortality by two-thirds between 1990 and 2015, which translates into a reduction from 128 to 43 deaths per 1,000 live births for Ghana.

On the other hand, MDG 5 has the objective of reducing maternal mortality by three-quarters between 1990 and 2015—and to reach this target, Ghana must reduce maternal deaths from 580 to 145 deaths per 100,000 live births. 

Expected outcomes

The expected outcomes of the CHN campaign, therefore, are: Increased availability of essential health services and commodities; increased government spending on health in line with the Abuja Declaration of allocating 15 per cent of the national budget to the health sector; and increased access to quality nutrition and health care for mothers and children in the most vulnerable communities.

The Ghana Coalition of Non-Governmental Organisations Health (GCNH) and World Vision International (WVI) have, therefore, on various platforms, demanded that the government should increase the national budget allocation to the health sector to 15 per cent of total government expenditure in conformance with the Abuja Declaration and ensure that funds are directed towards the improvement of maternal and child health by an increased number of skilled health professionals and improved health care for the poorest and most vulnerable mothers and children.

GCNH and WVI have also urged President Mahama to ensure that his declaration that he would cut his salary and that of his ministers by 10 per cent is implemented and the funds redirected to the health sector, and that progress on its implementation should be monitored and periodically reported to the public.

In addition, GCNH and WVI are demanding that more resources be invested, focusing on improved and increased public health education to combat misconceptions that undermine good health and nutritional practices and hamper health-seeking behaviour.

The writer is an Information Officer,who works with the Information Services Department.