By Ikome Christie-Noella Eposi in Buea
The South West regional coordination meeting of health personnel held on December 07-08 2017 in Buea with the theme; “All hands on deck for the fight against maternal mortality”.
The two-day workshop brought together the administrative officials including the representative of the governor of the South West region, regional delegate of public health for the South west region, Dr Mbome Victor, regional delegate of communication, partners of the ministry of public health, regional unit heads, directors of regional and district hospitals and training schools etc.
With a mission to scale up evidenced based services and practices in reducing maternal mortality in the country, Dr Mbome victor in his welcome address noted with dissatisfaction that, of 100,000 deliveries in Cameroon, 600 maternal deaths are recorded.
“About 80 maternal deaths have been recorded between 2016 and 2017 from all the 15 health districts in the region. In 2017 alone we have recorded about 40 maternal deaths. In a context like ours where child bearing is fulfilling, it is unacceptable that we still record such a huge rate of maternal mortality. The attention given to maternal mortality is really low reasons why something needs to be done to remedy this situation” the regional director said.
The regional director of public health continued by encouraging family planning which will go a long way to reduce maternal mortality in various communities by 33%.
“We at the regional delegation have already set up a regional task force in the fight against maternal mortality and we want to focus on what we can do to improve community cooperation. Let us all work towards resolutions in improving the health sector” Mbome told participants at the workshop.
The representative of the South West governor, Kiawi Sarah assured the participants of government’s full support in the reduction of maternal mortality in the region. “The government will spare no efforts in ensuring the good health of its citizens” she added.
In involving the community in scaling up family planning, Kiawi Sarah highlighted that, the vision of the region is to become the pacesetter in reducing maternal mortality in Cameroon
She revealed that; “In 1998, 430 maternal deaths were recorded, in 2004, 669 maternal deaths, in the year 2011, 782 cases of maternal deaths were recorded, in 2015, 350 and finally in the year 2017, 600 cases of maternal deaths have been recorded. About 60 traditional birth attendants have been trained in respect to the fight against maternal mortality, family planning providers have equally been trained, equipment has been supplied and campaigns are currently going on”.
It is envisaged that by 2020, there should be an increase in the uptake of family planning from 20% to 50% and this will reduce maternal mortality by 33%.
According to Dr. Mbome Victor, maternal mortality is a nationwide concern and one of the most challenging health indicators. The rate in the country as at now is very high and that is why health personnel are doing everything humanly possible to reduce the level of maternal deaths.
He cited factors such as management of patients, lateness to the health center, lateness to action taken within the health center, ignorance, poverty, and no family planning facilities in the communities which contribute to the high rate of maternal deaths.
