Forty-one pregnant women in the Mfantseman Municipality tested HIV positive in 2016 when screened at the antenatal clinic,the Municipal Health Directorate has revealed.

Ms. Georgina Graham-Hayfron, Municipal Health Director who disclosed this on Thursday said nine babies and 25 mothers had been placed on anti-retro viral therapy.

Addressing the 2016 Annual Performance Review Meeting of the Directorate at Saltpond, Ms Graham-Hayfron said the patients were among the 3,701 pregnant women who were screened during the period.

She said there were rigorous ongoing activities in HIV and Tuberculosis (TB) to prevent mother-to-child transmission of the disease as it was a major concern of the Directorate.

She said the Directorate recorded 92 still births in 2016 as against 66 in 2015 and five cases of maternal death compared to two in 2015.

Ms. Graham-Hayfron said Out Patient Department (OPD) cases reduced from 14,978 in 2015 to 13,755 in 2016.

She said though malaria cases recorded reduced significantly from 49,641 in 2015 to 42,770 in 2016, it still topped cases reported at the OPD followed by Upper respiratory tract infections, skin and diarrhoea diseases respectively.

She said teenage pregnancy also reduced marginally from 751 in 2015 to 679 in the year under review.

The Municipal Health Director said the biggest challenge of the Directorate was the delays in the release of funds by the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) to the health facilities.

She disclosed that, the NHIA owed some health facilities in the municipality as far back as July 2015 and that, she indicated was taking a toll on the facilities as some casual workers had to be laid off due to lack of funds.

Lack of funds to carry out planned activities, apathy among health volunteers, lack of accommodation for health staff and spiritualisation of diseases were among the problems facing the Directorate.

She admonished the health workers in the municipality to be guided by the ethics of their profession and endeavour to submit regular report of their activities for proper planning and execution of programmes and activities.

Ms. Grayham-Hayfron lauded the effective collaboration and tremendous support from the district assembly, traditional rulers, and other stakeholders in the District for their support towards disease control in the municipality.