Health institutions in the Eastern Region record on the average, the death of 11 women every month from pregnancy related issues.
The figure does not include women who die from the similar cases in the rural communities and places outside the health institutions of the region.
Mrs Philomina Mireku, Senior Nursing Officer of the Obstetrician and Gynaecological Department at the Koforidua Regional Hospital disclosed this at a lecture on reducing maternal mortality, organized by the Koforidua Branch of the Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana (PPAG) for participants of this year’s Annual Conference of the Women’s Fellowship of the Koforidua Diocese of the Methodist Church at Koforidua on Saturday.
The conference which was attended by over 500 delegates from the diocese was organized under the theme “Witnessing to Christ; Teaching for Effective Christian Formation”.
She said records available indicates that, maternal mortality in the region had been rising since 2011 despite a lot of interventions the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service.
Mrs Mireku said, the situation required that all must show concern about pregnant women in their communities to ensure that, the necessary measures were put in place to help reduce the trend.
She said, the major causes of maternal mortality in the region is bleeding , high blood pressure and vomiting and therefore advised pregnant women to attend antenatal clinics immediately they conceived.
Mrs Mireku said high blood pressure in pregnancy make pregnant woman to develop swollen feet and swollen faces but often people wrongly explained it to mean that, it is a sign indicating that the pregnant woman would give birth to a boy or twins.
She said such signs were dangerous and therefore advised women to motivate any pregnant woman to report such signs to the nearest medical centre.
Mrs Mireku advised women who were diabetic, have sickle cells or high blood pressure to seek constant medical care when they got pregnant for their conditions to be monitored and controlled.
She advised pregnant women to sleep under treated mosquito nets to avoid malaria infection because malaria could lead to blood shortage in pregnancy.