Health Minister assures
The Minister of Health, Dr. Austin Demby, has remarked that introducing technological innovation in the health sector will significantly eradicate maternal mortality in Sierra Leone.
The Health Minister spoke to journalists at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs conference hall on Tower Hill in Freetown during the regular government press briefing.
According to the Minister, Technology and Innovation in Hospitals is a new ICT tool that shows the Geo-location and registration centres. “The tool provides information on pregnancy profiles, the child, and the mother during pregnancy,” Minister Demby revealed.
“The tool shows a green dot if there is a normal pregnancy, pregnancy with blood pressure with complication or anaemia, it shows a yellow dot. If the pregnant woman dies in any of the hospitals across the District level, it shows a red dot,” Demby further revealed.
Minister Demby also revealed that the innovation tool could allow him to use his computer to learn about developing the country’s hospitals at the district level.
According to UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO), Maternal mortality is the deaths which occur due to complications from pregnancy to childbirth.
From 2000 to 2020, the global maternal mortality ratio (MMR) declined by 34 per cent, from 339 deaths to 223 deaths per 100,000 live births, according to UN agency estimates.
This estimate translates into an average annual reduction rate of 2.1 percent. The report states that a substantive one-third of the 6.4 per cent annual rate is needed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of 70 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births by 2030.
“Significant progress has been made in reducing the global Maternal Mortality Rate(MMR) between 2000 and 2015. The numbers have been stagnant when averaging rates of reduction between 2016 and 2022,” the report maintains.
Goal 3 of the Sustainable Development Goals articulated the need for healthy lives and promoting well-being for all ages.
