Maternal mortality reduction, a major focus of Public Health Ministry

 “…no mother should be dying in giving life…” – Minister Lawrence

DPI, Guyana, Wednesday, July 11, 2018

The drive to reduce maternal mortality remains a major focus of her ministry says Minister of Public Health, Volda Lawrence.

“Prior to me becoming Minister of Public Health, there have been several attempts to ensure that we arrest this issue of maternal mortality. We thought we had moved forward last year, but we did not. We missed a few things. As a result of that, this year there was an expression specifically on us putting our resources together to ensure that we come up with a plan because no woman should be dying in giving life irrespective of where she is.”

Minister of Public Health, Volda Lawrence at PAC.

In addition, Minister Lawrence said a PAHO/WHO/Ministry of Public Health three-day workshop with local stakeholders has introduced new maternal care methods in time, for what is generally the peak season of October/November.

“We recognize that most of those deaths are coming from our indigenous sisters in far-flung areas and experts both locally and overseas have decided we are going to use some new methodologies that are out there, so we are going to be purchasing, very quickly, some new drugs and also some new kits that can be used for compressing and ensuring that hemorrhaging is stemmed and so on,” she said.

The workshop, at the Aruwai Resort hosted by PAHO/WHO, resulted in the formulation of plans to tackle maternal mortality and mother to child transmission of HIV.

“Some of the things we are going to do immediately, some of the things we are going to do in the medium term and in the long term. The other was transmission of HIV to babies and how we can ensure that we tighten that…We are not doing too badly but we should have been in a better place right now.” the Public Health Minister said.

The Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMRatio) is the annual number of female deaths per 100,000 live births from any cause related to or aggravated by pregnancy or its management (excluding accidental or incidental causes). The MMRatio includes deaths during pregnancy, childbirth, or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and site of the pregnancy, for a specified year.

By: Kidackie Amsterdam.

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