Mother-to-Mother Support Groups ensure well-being of pregnant women

Some mothers in the Pusiga District have lauded the activities of Mother-to-Mother Support Groups for helping to ensure their well-being while pregnant through safe delivery.They said such activities also helped to ensure good health of their babies whilst saving their lives and those of their babies.The mothers shared their experiences when a team from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) visited the community to assess the impact of the operations of the Mother-to-Mother Support Groups in the district.The Mother-to-Mother Support Groups initiative, under the Community Infant and Young Child Feeding programme implemented by the Ghana Health Service in collaboration with UNICEF, provides a platform where experienced mothers in communities support new mothers to embrace exclusive breastfeeding, optimally feed their infants as well as encourage them to embrace maternal health care services with the overall objective of addressing malnutrition and infant mortality in the area.The UNICEF, as part o f the partnership, provided training and other logistical support including antenatal care services' materials to enable especially the experienced mothers support other young mothers to prioritise personal hygiene and antenatal care services.The support also included capacity building of the groups on financial empowerment where they formed savings groups to raise money to support themselves in terms of emergency health care needs and the education of their children.Mr. Eadbert Ansoba, Pusiga District Nutrition Officer, speaking during the team's visit, said more mothers in the area were now practising exclusive breastfeeding.Mr. Ansoba said the Mother-to-Mother Support Groups had been instrumental in supporting health staff in the communities to identify and encourage pregnant women to go for antenatal care.He added that they helped in identifying malnourished children in the area and report them to the nearest health facilities for the needed attention as well as sensitising other caregivers on per sonal hygiene and the need to take their children to welfare clinics periodically for examination.Madam Porbilla Ofosu Apea, Health and Nutrition Officer, UNICEF, Tamale Field Office, encouraged the Mother-to-Mother Support Groups in the district to continue to support new mothers and advocate exclusive breastfeeding in their communities.When the UNICEF team interacted with some of the mother beneficiaries, Madam Amamata Yussifu, a resident of Yariga Number Two in the Pusiga District of the Upper East Region, said but for the activities of the Mother-to-Mother Support Group, she would have died after she failed to patronise antenatal services from health facilities and rather resorted to herbal medicine during pregnancy and childbirth.She said 'During my first pregnancy, I never attended any antenatal care services. I was only using traditional herbs, which resulted in severe bleeding during childbirth, and I nearly lost my life.'Another beneficiary, Madam Rabi Osman, said two of her children she deli vered whilst attending antenatal care, were healthier and smarter than those she delivered without attending antenatal care.Source: Ghana News Agency