New technology to reduce maternal mortality in Northern Region

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is being used to educate pregnant women on their health throughout their gestation period to help reduce maternal mortality in the Northern Region.

It is being carried out by Savana Signatures (Savsign), a non-governmental Organisation (NGO), operating in the region.

Mr Stephen Agbenyo, Executive Director of Savsign, who announced these, said the NGO would use multi-media technology, voice and SMS messages to educate pregnant women on daily basis on what they were expected to do, their diets and general information to inform their health decisions.

He was speaking to the Ghana News Agency in Tamale on Wednesday on the sidelines of an ICT quiz competition organized for Junior High Schools (JHS) .

Mr Agbenyo said the project was being implemented in four districts of the Northern Region with support from STAR-Ghana, a multi-donor funding agency, stressing that health personnel and midwives had already been selected in six hospitals and trained on the concept.

He said the initiative was targeting 3,200 pregnant women in two years, who would be selected by midwives, noting that those who were not educated would receive timely voice messages in their local dialects.

The quiz competition, which is an annual event organised by Savsign, was competed for by Adom Model Experimental (JHS in the Volta Region, Kanvili JHS, Bishops JHS, Savelugu Experimental JHS and Sawla Model Experimental JHS, all in the Northern Region.

The Adom Model Experimental JHS, who emerged winners, were presented with a desktop computer while all the other schools were received certificates of participation.

Source: GNA