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First Lady Lordina Mahama has encouraged professional midwives to do their best for Mother Ghana as first handlers of the human race. She applauded midwives for protecting and saving lives at birth and ensuring that mothers were safe during and after delivery. The First Lady gave thumbs up to midwives for their role in the safety of mothers and new-born babies both in, and outside the maternity wards.
Mrs Mahama gave the commendation in a speech read on her behalf at Takoradi, at this year’s celebration of the International Day of the Midwife. The Day held on May 5, every year, recognised the vital contributions of midwifes in health care delivery.
The occasion acknowledged the essential services midwives provided to guarantee that every woman and her newborn received prompt access to the best possible care before, during and after childbirth. This year’s celebration was on theme: “Midwives Critical in Every Crisis”.
They First Lady assured the midwives that the government would continue to prioritise healthcare and pay attention to maternal health care delivery. Mrs. Mahama later donated GHC 20,000 to the Ghana Registered Midwives Association (GRMA) to support the association.
Nana Kobina Nketsia V, the President of the Western Regional House of Chiefs said: “You are our saviour, your humility is unbelievable; your service to human lives is unsurpassable …We are proud of you. ”At the ceremony 23 midwives were honoured for their sacrificial and exemplary services.
Mrs Netta Forson Ackon, the President of the GRMA, speaking at the ceremony observed that midwives are beacons of hope in areas affected by conflict and migration challenges. Again, as professionals, they ensured that the internally displaced women and refugee mothers received quality maternal health care, with the ability to work under pressure, often with limited resources.
These feats, she noted, also shows the unwavering commitment of midwives to safe childbirth regardless of the circumstances, by collaborating with international organisations and humanitarian agencies to extending their impact beyond borders. “They are ensuring no mother is left behind,” Mrs Ackon said. She said midwives ensured that women received safe and uninterrupted maternal and newborn care, while also educating communities on infection prevention.
Some midwives, she observed, endured the harsh conditions and worked tirelessly to provide essential and emergency maternal care to displaced women in temporary shelters in conflicts prone areas. The Ghanaian midwives, she said, had proven to be instrumental in public health initiatives, collaborating with other healthcare professionals to combat infectious diseases.
These critical forces also go beyond their clinical responsibilities and served as educators leading public health campaigns on family planning, hygiene and vaccination. Mrs Ackon noted that midwives play a pivotal role in shaping healthcare policies beyond direct service delivery, engage with stakeholders, including the Ghana Health Service and the Nursing and Midwifery Council to advocate for improved working conditions, enhanced maternal health policies and better preparedness.
“Their expertise ensures that midwifery services remain central to health strategies, particularly in disaster and emergency response planning,” she said. Midwives, Mrs Ackon mentioned, continued to experience mental torture especially during the ongoing Bawku conflicts working during critical curfew hours and performing deliveries. They are forced to risk their lives, sometimes to seek support and travel outside of the curfew hours to ensure that mothers had access to higher lifesaving care.
“As key players in the lives of the next generation of Ghanaians, midwives are calling for the prioritisation of essential drugs and logistics to ensure that there is never a shortage — we continue to urge our employers to improve our working conditions and implement the collective agreement to motivate our midwives to perform even better,” Mrs Ackon stressed.
The GRMA President also spoke about brain drain at the midwifery front and requested that critical attention should be given to the situation, which was taxing the remaining staff. Dr Mrs Caroline Reindorf Amissah, the Deputy Director of the Ghana Health Services, also applauded the important role midwives played in maternal and child health even in very most challenging circumstances.
She said: “Midwives are the backbone of maternal and child health services. In Ghana, you provide essential service to a pregnant woman, not her alone, but the newborn, and go ahead to provide services to their families. So, you look after children, you even go a step further to look at their husbands.”
Quoting from the Ghana African Health Survey, Dr Amissah said midwives provided up to 70 percent of maternal and child health services in Ghana even under challenging situations like floods, wars, conflicts and crisis.
The GHS, she assured, would bring in interventions to improve and support the work of midwives. Mr. Joseph Nelson, the Western Regional Minister described their role as service to God first before humanity and mist be carried out with all dedication. He said government continued to recognize their invaluable contributions to the achievement of the MDGs on health and worked to secure their working conditions.
Dr. Gifty Amugi, the Western Regional Director of Health, praised the over 1400 midwives working in the Region stating that their role was indispensable.
Source : GNA
