The Greater Accra Region has recorded a decrease in Maternal Mortality Rate from 181/100,000 live births between January-June 2022 to 146.7/100,000 in the same period in 2023, the Greater Accra Regional Health Directorate has disclosed.

The still birth rate also declined by 7.9 per cent, a reduction from 12.7 per cent in 2022 to 11.7 per cent in 2023.

Institutional Neonatal Mortality rate also saw a significant reduction from 11.5 per cent in 2022 to 6.3 per cent in 2023, while under five Malaria Case Fatality also reduced from 0.07 per cent to 0.03 per cent.

Dr Mrs Charity Sarpong, the Greater Accra Regional Director of Health Services, revealed this during the 2023 Greater Accra Regional Mid-Year Performance Review meeting.

The Mid-year performance review offers the opportunity to critically assess outputs for the first six months of the year and to address any shortfalls identified and collectively work towards achieving the indicators to promote healthy outcomes.

It was on the theme, “Addressing Healthcare Delivery Gaps for Equity in Health Coverage Through Intensifying Health Promotion Interventions, Optimizing the Use of Data and Technology to Improve Access to Quality Care, and Strengthening Preventive and Control Measures for Emergent and Re-emergent Public Health Events.”

She said, the worrying trends which must be closely monitored and addressed included some maternal statistics.

The Regional Director said antenatal registrants reduced by 2.5 per cent from 74,265 (Jan-June 2022) to 72,431 for the same period in 2023 and total deliveries also reduced by about 1.1 per cent from 59,596 in 2022 to 58,953 in 2023.

“We need to be interested as a health sector in finding out what is happening; for example, families are now reducing the number of children they are having,” she stated.

She said the region also recorded a significant increase in the immunization coverages of Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) 3 and BCG from 79.708 in 2022 to 83,144 in 2023.

However, coverage for other antigens such as Measles-Rubella 2 saw a reduction by 24.5per cent from 89,898 in 2022 to 68,205 in 2023, Penta 3 also saw a drop by 4.3 per cent from 98.623 to 96,448 under the same period.

Dr Sarpong said the decline in immunization coverage could be attributed to the shortages of vaccines at the beginning of the year.

“The vaccine stockouts have since been rectified and affected districts are carrying out mop-ups to ensure they meet their targets and cover babies who were missed out,” she said.

She assured that the region would continue to deploy resources equitably to all districts for effective health delivery.

The Regional Director mentioned that despite the success chalked over the period, the Directorate was faced with the challenge of permanent office accommodation.

She appealed to the Regional Minister and the Director-General of the Ghana Health Service to assist the directorate to find permanent office accommodation.

Mr Henry Quartey, the Greater Accra Regional Minister, in a speech read on his behalf by Samuel Nii Adjei-Tawiah, the Municipal Chief Executive of Korle-Klottey, commended the Regional Health Directorate for the successes and ensuring that healthcare delivery was improved in the region.

He said the health indicators for the half year were a remarkable improvement, which testified that the interventions and programmes being implemented were yielding the desired outcomes.

The Regional Minister assured the Regional Health Directorate of continued support to the health sector, especially in the areas of physical infrastructure, and the provision of essential materials.

He urged all District Directors to continuously collaborate closely with the Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies to factor their health needs into their programmes to address the challenges in their respective operational areas.