Millennium development Goal 5: progress and challenges in reducing maternal deaths in Ghana

Multiple challenges have prevented developing countries from making good progress in reducing maternal deaths, including inefficient maternity referral systems [28], inadequate numbers and uneven distribution of skilled health personnel [29] and sociocultural barriers to use of obstetric services [30]. Ghana has so far adopted various strategies in response to specific maternal health challenges. A significant measure introduced in 2008, to improve equity in access to maternity care services is the provision of free maternal healthcare services for all pregnant women through the Ghana National Health Insurance Scheme [31]. Interestingly, family planning services are not covered under the scheme, despite evidence that the country has significant unmet need for family planning. For instance, in 2014, unmet need for family planning was 30 % among married women alone and 42 % among unmarried sexually active women [32]. This unmet need may translate into higher abortion rates with associated abortion-related complications. Given that abortion-related complications are a significant contributor to maternal deaths in the country [10‐13], it is unclear why the country’s Ministry of Health has yet to include family planning services in the health insurance benefit package of maternal healthcare [33]. In 2012, changes to the Ghana National Health Insurance Act (Act 852) mandated the health minister to prescribe the healthcare benefits package and include any family planning package under the National Health Insurance Scheme [34]. Despite passage of the law (Act 852), it is yet to be operational [35]. In the longer term, eliminating Ghana’s unmet need for contraception through its inclusion in the National Health Insurance Scheme will offer cost-saving benefits for the country through the reduction of unintended pregnancies, prevention of abortion-related complications and general improvement in maternal health [35]. Nonetheless, despite these deficiencies, some advances have been made in Ghana. For instance, skilled attendance at birth has shown an increase from 40 % in 1988 to 74 % in 2014 [32].

One particular difficulty in developing countries is measuring and tracking maternal deaths [6, 36, 37] due to the absence of complete and accurate registration systems [6]. In Ghana, MMR measurement problems stem from a poor vital registration system, poor data collection practices in health facilities, possible misclassification of maternal deaths, and difficulties tracking births that do not occur in health facilities. As a consequence of such difficulties, data may be outdated, unreliable or incomparable [37]. For instance, in a 2014 WHO report, Ghana’s 2013 MMR was given as 380 per 100,000 live births, with a possible lower estimate of 210 and a higher estimate of 720 [6], a wide disparity which may hinder the proper planning and meeting of healthcare needs of the population. MMR measurement problems have real implications for decision-makers with regards to setting realistic targets and efficient allocation of resources [36]. Maternal death reviews are an essential means of capturing maternal deaths by helping estimate maternal mortality while providing insight into ways of improving practice and preventing future maternal deaths [6]. Ghana’s Ministry of Health actively promotes clinical and case audit of maternal deaths [38], which will help improve the quality of obstetric care and documentation. In recent times, there has been an increase in published research based on clinical audits of maternal deaths within the Ghana Health Service to help improve health service provision [12, 19, 39, 40].

Midwifery personnel are a critical group of maternal healthcare providers. Even though there is evidence of shortage of healthcare personnel globally, there is no universal measure of the shortage [41]. A yardstick often used to plan midwifery workforce is 6 midwives per 1,000 births in a year [42]. The 2011 State of the World’s Midwifery report estimated Ghana’s midwife to population ratio to be 5 per 1000 live births [42], which is close to the WHO’s recommendation. While this ratio compares favourably with some developing countries, and almost meets the WHO’s recommended target for midwifery personnel per population, it must be viewed in the context of the country’s particular circumstances. According to the 2014 State of the World’s Midwifery report, due to the ageing population of midwives in Ghana, the country is expecting high workforce losses in a the next 10 years, further depleting the midwifery population [43]. Unfortunately, published data on the current age distribution and specific rates of exit from the workforce is not available. Statistics on workforce availability in 2012 showed that, the sexual, reproductive, maternal and newborn healthcare in Ghana was only 30 % of what is required [43]. The 2012 graduates account for nearly a quarter of the 2014 midwifery workforce, a trend, if maintained, that could significantly increase women’s access to midwifery services. Comparatively, the 2011 and 2014 State of the World’s Midwifery reports show a general increase in the total numbers of maternal health staff in Ghana. The number of midwifery personnel has increased from 3,780 to 4,185 with an additional 273 nurses who spend 80 % of their working time on maternal and neonatal services [42, 43]. Midwives provide the majority of skilled maternity care services in Ghana and any discussion of maternal health workforce must consider recruitment, retention and equitable distribution of midwives. Factors such as poor remuneration, lack of incentives, inadequate resources and lack of social amenities inhibit the recruitment and retention of midwifery and other health staff in rural areas, where services are most needed [44‐46]. Many developing countries have experienced significant losses of skilled health workforce, including midwives, to high-income countries [47]. In 2009, it was reported that over 24 % of nursing and midwifery personnel trained in Ghana were working abroad [48]. In response to the shortage of midwifery personnel, the government of Ghana has upgraded midwifery training schools and introduced direct-entry midwifery training programmes at the diploma level in 2007 [49] and as Bachelor of Science in 2011 [42]. A third entry pathway is the 2-year post-basic midwifery programme, leading to a diploma, targeted at community health nurses and health assistants from underserved communities, which may help increase the number of midwives in remote areas, due to the shorter duration of training [50]. The impact of the country’s investment in expanding the health workforce needs to be measured to guide further action on current and future needs. However, despite the government’s efforts, there are challenges in retaining these key personnel in remote/rural areas and these challenges need to be addressed to improve retention [46, 51].

Historically, the country’s healthcare efforts have been reactionary to emergency or advancing healthcare system problems rather than being proactive in preventing such problems. For example, major increases in training of professional midwifery personnel were not pursued, until their numbers dipped significantly, despite the known effects of economic migration and advancing age of existing personnel. Such reactionary measures create conditions where problems become deep-rooted and use of short-term strategies make them more costly and time-consuming to resolve. Targeted investments need to be consistently made in human resources planning and training for the maternal health sector. Ultimately, a more cost-effective and sustainable approach is to invest in standardised midwifery training which equips personnel with the minimum competencies required to provide emergency obstetric care [43]. Policymakers also need to consider relevant health-worker needs when developing guidelines to improve retention of key personnel, particularly in remote areas [46, 51].

The midwifery workforce in Ghana is supplemented by other categories of health service workers. The 2014 State of the World’s Midwifery report indicates that the number of obstetricians and gynaecologists were 549, a great improvement over 64 obstetricians reported in the 2011 report [42, 43]. This category of specialists could make a real difference if, in reality, their services reach those who need them most.

In recent times, Ghana has focused on training increasing numbers of auxiliary and middle level personnel [52], particularly for service in remote/rural areas. Categories of trained auxiliary healthcare workers include community health nurses (certificate) and health care assistants. Since 2003, efforts were intensified to train more community health nurses for Community-based Health and Planning Services (CHPS). CHPS are a type of healthcare facility in Ghana which plays an important role in reproductive healthcare in remote and rural communities. Although it was initially planned for each CHPS zone to have one community health nurse, it is estimated that currently, there are at least two per zone, suggesting an over-production of this category of health workers for the CHPS zones available [53]. The initial emphasis on auxiliary personnel is, however, not without cost to reproductive healthcare as it has implications for the quality of patient care and does not adequately cater for future workforce requirements. It appears to be an attempt to lower the financial cost of training and retain the personnel since they are deemed less likely to seek career advancement [54]; and unlikely to emigrate [55]. In contrast, the WHO’s recommendations emphasise local recruitment and training, as well as access to professional education and support, as a means to retain health workers in remote areas [56]. The existence of different types of health professionals carrying out maternity care tasks creates particular challenges due to lack of standardisation in training and poorly defined roles [57, 58]. The efficiency and cost-effectiveness of recently introduced low- and mid-level healthcare workers providing maternal health services remains to be fully determined. Conscious efforts must be made to ensure that growth in maternity care workforce is driven mainly by higher numbers of professionally prepared midwifery personnel rather than auxiliary personnel, as it has been demonstrated that professional midwifery care is key to reducing MMR [43].

In Ghana, some pregnant women seek care from multiple sources including traditional practitioners, even where there is access to obstetric care [59‐62]. Traditional practitioners may include traditional birth attendants (TBAs), diviners, spiritualists and herbalists [60, 61]. The 2008 Ghana Maternal Health Survey report shows that, over half (55 %) of all births occurred in the presence of a skilled attendant, while 29 % were assisted by TBAs [63], although the extent of use may vary across the country. Reasons for preference of such services are often socio-cultural in nature [59]. Therefore, improvement in utilisation of skilled care requires an understanding of the culture and values of service users. A recent study revealed that formal healthcare providers were isolated from the culture of the communities they served, as opposed to traditional providers [60]. Presently, the role of TBAs in Ghana is officially restricted to non-birthing support during pregnancy, hence, TBAs no longer receive training and support for maternal birthing services [61]. Despite the lack of support, pregnant women may continue to use them for antenatal and birthing care because of deep-rooted, traditionally held beliefs [59]. Although the activities of traditional practitioners have an impact on maternal health outcomes, limited engagement of these practitioners makes it difficult to measure the nature and extent of their impact [62]. Without a discontinuation or decline in utilisation of their services by community members, marginalising TBAs and other practitioners means that the country misses an opportunity to reach some of its most vulnerable population.

A significant national health policy initiative implemented by Ghana is the Community-based Health and Planning Services system. The initiative was adopted in 1999 by Ghana’s Ministry of Health to increase geographic access to maternal and child health services, particularly in rural and remote communities [64]. The programme relies on collaboration with community leaders and volunteers to mobilise resources and labour to construct a health facility known as a Community Health Compound, consisting of space for a clinic and accommodation for a health care provider. These compounds are manned by Community Health Nurses and Community Health Officers [63]. Upscale of the CHPS initiative has occurred at different rates in the various districts in Ghana. By 2008, almost all districts had some coverage of functioning CHPS, though districts where the pilot projects took place had up to 90 % or more of their population covered while most others had between 10 to 40 % coverage. On the whole, the population covered by functioning CHPS zones across Ghana is low, especially, in the highly populated regions in southern Ghana [65].

In 2010, the geographical delineation for a CHPS zone was changed to correspond with electoral areas as opposed to being based on population size. In 2013, there were 5,487 CHPS zones, out of which 1,189 were reported to be functional [53]. Though the initiative has been largely successful in reducing distances to health facilities, reports indicate an inadequate skill mix of community health officers, thus affecting the quality and scope of their work, particularly in terms of obstetric care services [46, 66]. This situation is problematic because evidence shows that not only is the availability of healthcare workers important [67], so is their ability to identify and respond effectively to obstetric emergencies [68]. The activities of community-based workers are further limited by inadequate supervision and lack of resources [46, 58]. Also, high attrition rates of community health workers have been reported in some communities [58]. Overall, hard-to-reach areas will be better served if expansion of the CHPS programme and health infrastructure progress in tandem with health resource needs such as essential health personnel.

Functional maternity referral systems rely on well-organised emergency medical systems. In Ghana, lower level health facilities, such as district hospitals and CHPS compounds, require a supportive network of maternity referral systems to function effectively and efficiently [40]. Efficient referral systems depend on factors such as good roads, appropriate transportation, information and communications technologies [69]. These factors are deficient in many parts of the country [69]. Maternal deaths in Ghana are therefore highest in rural areas where access to emergency obstetric care is also limited by scarce resources, long distances to health facilities, poor transportation and road networks [69]. Strengthening of its emergency response system is therefore of great importance to Ghana.

Development of emergency medical services in Ghana is still at an early stage. The Ghana National Ambulance Service was established in 2004 by the Ministry of Health, to provide pre-hospital emergency medical care, and transport patients to health facilities. Emergency medical training programmes have also been developed for physicians, nurses and middle level personnel [70]. Currently, national ambulance services are free [71] and although services have expanded to cover all regions in the country, they remain confined to the regional capitals and a few districts [70, 71]. Additionally, public awareness of services provided by the National Ambulance Service is low, coupled with the perception that they are unreliable, due to poor response times [70, 71]. In remote areas of the Upper East Region of Ghana, for instance, women referred to a higher level facility for emergency obstetric care may not have access to an ambulance and may use alternative means of transport, delaying their arrival. In the absence of ambulances, common modes of transportation used include taxis, motorbikes, bicycles and donkey carts [28], which may put ill pregnant women at serious risk. This deficit is well recognised and some new initiatives aim to address the problem. For example, under a program called the Ghana Essential Health Intervention Program (GEHIP), a pilot project was launched in 2012 to strengthen the emergency referral system in the Upper-East Region of Ghana, with the supply of 3-wheeled emergency transport vehicles and communication equipment at community levels [72]. These motorcycles have been modified to serve as ambulances (‘Motorking Ambulances’) [73]. Following the pilot, which improved emergency response times [72], it was later upscaled as the Sustainable Emergency Referral Care (SERC) Initiative [73]. The project was developed taking into consideration the particular context of healthcare delivery in the region and the introduction of 3-wheeled motorcycles was a key strategy. A similar project in a rural district of East-Mamprusi in the Northern Region of Ghana has been reported to ease transport-related challenges while remaining cost-effective [74]. Similarly, innovative approaches in solving healthcare problems could be developed in other remote communities in Ghana, with the support and input of community members.

Another major reproductive healthcare challenge is low patronage of skilled care at birth. Though women may be aware of the merits of skilled birth attendance in formal maternity care units, they may not always utilise these services. Unlike antenatal care visits which are flexible and amenable to rescheduling, the onset of labour is less so and care during labour can be compounded by health system barriers and the individual’s particular circumstances at the time. It is concerning, however, when the skilled birth attendance rate is very low relative to antenatal care attendance, especially, among vulnerable populations. For instance, between 1993 and 2014, pregnant women who made antenatal care visits at least once increased from 86 to 97 %, while births occurring in a health facility rose from 42 to 73 % [32]. Rural women remain at a disadvantage as the 2014 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey reports that, in the 5 years preceding the survey, 91 % of births in urban areas were assisted by a skilled provider, compared to 59 % in rural areas and as low as 36 % in the Northern Region of Ghana [32].

Several factors, including sociocultural factors and perceived quality of healthcare, may have contributed to the situation. Studies have also raised concerns about negative attitudes of health staff, poor communication skills, and low standards of care [75‐78]. Other reasons for preference for alternative care, such as home birth or use of TBAs, include the liberty to engage in cultural practices/beliefs, such as use of herbal medicines believed to hasten the birthing process; and the freedom to use various birthing positions of choice. Additionally, TBAs are perceived by some as more empathetic and trustworthy than orthodox healthcare professionals [30].

Strategies to increase use of skilled healthcare services at birth must accommodate the challenges of healthcare providers as well as inputs and expectations of service users. Healthcare workers need to provide a more supportive environment by being sensitive and accommodating to diverse socio-cultural perspectives and employing tact in educating clients or managing their needs. Certain non-harmful socio-cultural practices could form part of comprehensive holistic care at home and in health facilities. Finally, during national health policy development processes, especially when adopting broader global strategies, such as the post-2015 sustainable development agenda [79], health service users from different socio-cultural backgrounds may be better served if their inputs are sought and included through local consultative processes.