Madam Ayishetu Abudulai, a midwife at the Tamale West Hospital (TWH), has advised pregnant women to continue to engage their partners in sexual intercourse to make their unborn babies healthy and to ensure smooth delivery.

She explained that sex in pregnancy was very good because it builds bonds among the couple, and gives them the urge to take full responsibility of the baby during and after pregnancy, adding,  “It eases labour and helps in smooth delivery.”

Madam Abudulai disclosed this to the Ghana News Agency in Tamale on Thursday on the sidelines of a monitoring visit by a team from Savana Signatures to evaluate a project on technology for maternal health, which sought to use ICT to deepen knowledge on maternal health to pregnant women.

The project, which started in March 2013 in four districts and six health facilities in the Northern Region, was to use ICT technology and short messages (sms) through their mobile phones to educate them on adequate information on pregnancy depending on the age of their pregnancy.

Madam Abudulai explained that sex was equally a way of exercise for pregnant women, and advised them to engage in sex, remembering that the safest way for sex in pregnancy was through sideways and from behind.

She also suggested the need for pregnant women to exercise regularly to ensure that they had safe delivery, and recommended bicycle riding, walking and other domestic chores. 

Miss Elizabeth Hariba Jakalia, Project Officer for Technology for Maternal Health (TMH), explained that the project had donated some computers with software to the beneficiary hospitals that would be used by nurses and midwives to educate pregnant women.

She said localized voice and sms messages were sent to the pregnant women who have been registered in the system noting that 1,735 pregnant women receive periodic information on nutrition, hygiene, antenatal information, dangerous signs and preparations towards delivery.

The team visited the Central Hospital also in Tamale where the system was seen operating effectively.