A Principal Physician Assistant and Monitoring & Evaluation Expert Mr Nuhu Kantamah Abdul Ganiyu has highlighted a public health threat associated with Pregnant women that fast during the month of Ramadan.
According to Mr Kantamah, fasting during the month of Ramadan is the fourth pillar of Islam which is obligatory for every adult Muslim except the sick, pregnant women, Nursing mothers, Women on their menses and the traveler.
“But despite fasting during the month of Ramadan being optional for the pregnant, some pregnant women in the Busunu sub- Municipal of the West Gonja Municipality of the Savannah Region especially those of Fulani descent insist on fasting against medical advice”, he noted.
He said pregnant women who fast are often noted for having a very low hemoglobin levels that requires intake of well-balanced diet alongside hematinic to correct their anemia status.
Mr Nuhu Kantamah Abdul Ganiyu said, “To add salt into injury, some of these women are rushed into the labor room fasting and no amount plea from the midwife would convince them to break their fast.”
Mr Kantamah also said; “This practice according within this month is a threat to the quest for zero maternal death in our sub municipality since mothers at the point of delivery might not have enough energy and strength to push for the baby to be delivered”.
He is therefore calling on all stakeholders especially health workers and the Imams to assist in educating pregnant women and their husbands against this practice.
Maternal and child mortality is a public health threat globally. There is an estimated 830 maternal deaths each day in 2015.Majority (99%) of these deaths occur in rural communities of developing countries with more than half of the deaths occurring in sub-Saharan Africa.
The ratio of maternal mortality in developing countries such as Ghana is 239 per 100,000 live births in 2015. (WHO, 2018).
Source: nkilgifmonline.com
