Group steps in to help reduce neonatal deaths

In a bid to stem the high rate of neonatal deaths in the country, a group has educated mothers on the current care of the umbilical cord at Trede in the Ashanti region. The group, Guardian of the Gray Masters Foundation, says a newly cut umbilical cord can be a pathway for bacteria growth that can cause newborn sepsis and could lead to death. In Ghana, thirty thousand newborn babies are reportedly die annually, which has been partly attributed to sepsis, and bacteria infection in newborn. This, stakeholders say, is likely to cause Ghana to miss out on the sustainable development goal 3 target if measures are not put in place to address the situation and reduce the number of newborn death drastically. Ghana did not meet the Millennium Development Goal 4 target of 41 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2015. But the country is hoping to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal target 3 of child and mother health by 2030.Founder of Gray Masters Foundation, Abigail Appiah, said they targeted their education to older women because they are mostly the ones who take care of newborn babies when young mothers give birth. “In our part of the world, when a young mother gives birth the baby is taken care of by her mother or mother-in-law especially in the first month. “They often have their traditional way to taking care of the umbilical cord which sometimes lead to sepsis. That is why it is important for them to be educated on the proper way of taken care of the umbilical cord to avoid exposure to bacterial infection” she said. The education programme was part of activities by the group to observe the International Day for Older persons, which is celebrated on October 1 annually. The day is set aside to acknowledge the contributions of older persons in the lives of their families in the society at large. The women were taken though proper care of the umbilical cord of neonates and proper hand hygiene to avoid any bacterial infection to the newborn.  By Ibrahim Abubakar|TV3|3news.com|Ghana]]>