The Montserrado County Health Team with financial and technical support from the World Health Organization and the Japan International Cooperation Agency has ended a one day conference on maternal mortality.
The conference, which brought together over hundred health personnel and policy makers in government, sought to build consensus and strengthen ongoing effort aimed at tackling women and new born deaths.
The Liberian leader, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has since declared maternal mortality a public health emergency as frantic effort is being done by health authorities to reduce the deaths.
Speaking during the official opening of the one day event, Assistant Health Minister for Preventive Services, Dr. Sampson Arzoaquoi rallied everyone to get involve in tackling maternal mortality.
He continued “if Maternal deaths must be reduced, we must reach out to the communities because the deaths of our pregnant women start from the communities and end at the various health facilities.”
The Health Ministry official also told the gathering that maternal mortality’s issue was beyond health.
‘It is social and political as well, and we all must fight to defeat it,’ he averred
Dr. Arzoaquoi further expressed the ministry’s willingness in working with the partners and everyone to reduce the current alarming rate of maternal mortality.
“We must begin thinking about the provision of some motivational packages for service providers and create the enabling working environment for care givers as well if we must succeed in this drive.”
In brief remarks, the Country Representative of the World Health Organization, Dr. Alex Gasasarri pledged his Organization’s commitment in working with the government at all levels including the counties and districts in making the fight against maternal mortality a success.
“We want to express our gratitude to the MCHT for the level of work done so far in the county especially for organizing such an educative meeting”.
For her part, the Chief Convener of the Conference Montserrado County Health Officer, Dr. Yatta Wapoe described the current rate of maternal mortality as alarming.
“We must begin to give the issue of maternal mortality a serious attention because a WHO report told us that , 810 women died daily due to complication and of every 100.000 delivery, 994 died out of child birth over the years but this has however reduced to 700.”
The Montserrado CHO however blamed the current alarming rate of maternal mortality to factors including late referrals, bad roads and patients’ condition.
In separate remarks, the Japan International Cooperation Agency and the Center for Disease Control thanked the Montserrado County health Team for the gathering and pledged their commitments to working with the government reduce maternal mortality.
At the close of the one day health conference on Maternal Mortality, the over hundred participants came out with a ten-count resolution. They strongly agreed to step up effort aimed to reduce maternal mortality in Montserrado County and further strengthen referrals pathways.