Cape Coast-Ghana, Aug. 25, GNA – A study conducted by the University of Konstanz, Germany together with the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology has identified maltreatment during childbirth as a leading cause of maternal mortality in Ghana.
Among others, it identified shouting or yelling, abusive words, beating of women in labour, and stitching of episiotomy without anaesthesia by health professionals after deliveries as some of the common but most dangerous practices in health facilities.
The study involved 2,142 Ghanaian mothers in the Ashanti and Western Regions revealed that two out of every three pregnant women had suffered violence at the hands of health professionals during labour and childbirth.
Led by a German-based Ghanaian researcher, Dr. Abena Yalley, the study examined women’s experiences during childbirth and the prevalence of obstetric violence in Ghana.
Dr. Yalley disclosed this at a day’s dissemination workshop attended by Midwives in Cape Coast on Thursday.
The perceived impact of violence by health professionals, according to the study, had resulted in many women preferring traditional birth attendants to skilled birth attendants.
Women who had suffered the violence had also been affected either psychologically or emotionally and now had fears to attend facilities for deliveries.
A situation that the study established could reduce the gains in maternal and newborn deaths and Prevention of Mother-Child Transmission of HIV and AIDS.
The study recommended that curricula of Health institutions must be revisited, and students armed with information on giving, empathic care during their work.
There must be strategic intervention to break the cycle of violence, and institute complaints systems to enable the abused to channel their grievances.
In reaction to the research findings, Mrs. Isha Wiredu, a Midwife at Assin Fosu Polyclinic, admitted violence as a major barrier to facility-based deliveries in Ghana.
She noted that the profession required that practitioners treated every patient as they would their relatives, noting that if that was done, it would encourage positive birth experiences for women.
Ms. Ferguson Eshun, a Midwife at the Effutu Health Centre said the nursing profession required dedication and tolerance.
That, she said, must be guided by the principles and ethics of the profession, good judgment, and compassion to give pregnant women dignified care.
“Nursing is not just a profession but a calling. The profession deals with human lives and is very sensitive, so the attitude you exhibit towards patients forms a critical part of their health care,” she added.
