| By Tiffanne Ramphal With the 2015 deadline of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) approaching, Governments around the world are now reassessing their positions and reviewing their strategies and policies in order to meet the eight targets.Being included in the pact of nations who agreed, under the United Nations Millennium Declaration in 2000,Deion Jones Falcons Jersey UK, to set clear cut goals to up levels of development worldwide, Guyana too is fixed on working to successfully meet every goal within the next two years.Khadija Musa, serving in the capacity of the United Nations Resident Coordinator and United Nations Development Fund Resident Representative, during an interview with this newspaper acknowledged that, as with other nations globally, Guyana has made significant improvement in all areas and some targets have already been met, especially as it relates to poverty.However, while good performance is evident, there are specific areas that need continued focus, one of such being MDG 5 – to improve maternal health.Notably, MDG 5 was identified as the target which Guyana is lagging the furthest behind on. However, a comparison between the Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) in the past as opposed to how it appears now, shows significant progress.Referring to statistics provided in the country’s 2009 MDG report, Adrianus Vlugman, representative of the Pan American Health Organisation, World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO) pointed out that Guyana had achieved a fraction of the target in 2008, which states that maternal mortality should be reduced by three quarters between 1990 and 2015.The 2009 report revealed a reduction of 320 deaths for every 100,000 live births in 1991 to 86 in 2008.According to Vlugman, this improvement over the period could be largely credited to an availability of skilled health personnel at birth, an increase of antenatal care at health centres and an increase in the proportion of mothers who receive at least one session of antenatal care.In order to keep on track, though, Vlugman stated that Guyana should ensure that all pregnant women have access to “total antenatal care,Wholesale Jerseys Free Shipping, not only physical, but mental and social wellbeing.”What is slightly more important, he added,Cheap Juventus Jersey, is early detection of risks to the pregnancies. This can only be accomplished through regular visits to antenatal clinics.According to the PAHO/WHO representative, mothers should have at least four visits to antenatal care clinics which would allow the health system to detect any risk or complication on time and effectively treat the conditions.Conditions that would potentially present a risk to pregnancies and should be monitored were identified as high blood pressure, diabetes,Cheap Jerseys Free Shipping, medical conditions from previous pregnancies, the woman’s nutritional status and early detection of bleeding in the later stages of pregnancy.It was noted that while most pregnancies,Wholesale NFL Jerseys 2018, as much as 90%, are normal, it is the complications that result in the high maternal mortality ratio. Therefore there is need to focus on the 10% of pregnancies that are high risk.In so doing, Guyana must increase the number of trained or skilled personnel in obstetrics and gynaecology. According to Vlugman,Cheap Jerseys From China, “skilled people can respond more effectively in emergency situations during the delivery of the baby”.He pushed for decentralisation of skilled obstetric and gynaecological services outside of the city walls to improve access and a referral system which accommodates quick access to high quality healthcare for women with high risk pregnancies. |
