Public Health
Volume 120, Issue 5 , Pages 421-426 , May 2006

Unmet need for essential obstetric services in a rural district in northern Ghana: Complications of unsafe abortions remain a major cause of mortality

  • F. Baiden

      Affiliations

    • Navrongo Health Research Centre, Navrongo, UER, Ghana
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. Address: Health Group, Navrongo Health Research Centre, P.O. Box 114, Navrongo, UER, Ghana. Tel.: +233 24 4591181; fax: +233 742 22496.
    • ,
  • K. Amponsa-Achiano

      Affiliations

    • Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana
    • ,
  • A.R. Oduro

      Affiliations

    • Navrongo Health Research Centre, Navrongo, UER, Ghana
    • ,
  • T.A. Mensah

      Affiliations

    • War Memorial Hospital, Navrongo, Upper East Region, Ghana
    • ,
  • R. Baiden

      Affiliations

    • Navrongo Health Research Centre, Navrongo, UER, Ghana
    • ,
  • A. Hodgson

      Affiliations

    • Navrongo Health Research Centre, Navrongo, UER, Ghana

Received 3 March 2005 ,Revised 8 November 2005 ,Accepted 7 December 2005.

References 

  1. Fathalla MF. Reproductive health for all: commitment towards the new millennium. Eur J Contracept Reprod Health Care. 1999;4:212–216
  2. Shah D, Shroff S, Sheth S. Reproductive and sexual health and safe motherhood in the developing world. Eur J Contracept Reprod Health Care. 1999;4:216–217
  3. Belghiti A, de Brouwere V, Kegels G, et al. Monitoring unmet obstetric need at the district level in Morocco. Trop Med Int Health. 1998;3:584–591
  4. Gichangi P, Apers L, Temmerman M. Rates of Caesarean section as a process indicator of safe-motherhood programmes: the case of Kenya. J Health Popul Nutr. 2001;9:52–58
  5. Ronsmans C, Etard JF, Walraven G, Haj L, Dumont A, de Bernis L, et al. Maternal mortality and access to obstetric services in West Africa. Trop Med Int Health. 2003;8:940–948
  6. Bawah A, Akweongo P, Simmons R, et al. Women's fears and men's anxieties: the impact of family planning on gender relations in northern Ghana. Stud Fam Plann. 1999;30:54–66
  7. Debpuur C, Phillips JF, Jackson EF, et al. The impact of the Navrongo project on contraceptive knowledge and use, reproductive preferences and fertility. Stud Fam Plann. 2002;33:141–164
  8. Ngom P, Akweongo P, Bawah A. Maternal mortality in Kassena-Nankana district, Northern Ghana. Stud Fam Plann. 1999;30:142–147
  9. UNICEF/WHO/UNFPA. Guidelines for monitoring the availability and use of obstetric services. New York: UNICEF; 1997.
  10. AbouZahr C, Wardlaw T. Maternal mortality at the end of a decade: signs of progress?. Bull World Health Organ. 2001;79:561–568
  11. World Health Organization. Revised 1990 estimates of maternal mortaility: a new approach by WHO and UNICEF. Geneva: World Health Organization; 1996; p. 1–6.
  12. Macfarlene A, Chamberlain G. What is happening to Caesarean section rates?. Lancet. 1993;342:1005–1006
  13. Lithur NO. Destigmatising abortion: expanding community awareness of abortion as a reproductive health issue in Ghana. Afr J Reprod Health. 2004;8:70–74
  14. Ngom P, Debpuur C, Akweongo P, et al. Gate-keeping and women's health seeking behavior in Navrongo, northern Ghana. Afr J Reprod Health. 2003;7:17–26
  15. Kyomuhendo GB. Low use of rural maternity services in Uganda: impact of women's status, traditional beliefs and limited lesources. Reprod Health Matters. 2003;11:16–26
  16. Sargent C. The politics of birth; cultural dimension of pain, virtue and control among Bariba of Benin. In:  Penn Handwerker W editors. Birth and power, social change and the politics of reproduction. Boulder: Western View Press; 1990;p. 111
  17. Setel P, Sankoh O, Rao C, et al. Sample registration of vital events with verbal autopsy: a renewed commitment to measuring and monitoring vital statistics. Bull World Health Organ. 2005;83:611–617

PII: S0033-3506(06)00026-6

doi: 10.1016/j.puhe.2005.12.004

Public Health
Volume 120, Issue 5 , Pages 421-426 , May 2006

Article Tools