REVERSE THIS DISTURBING TREND

THE Upper West Regional Health Directorate has attributed the high maternal and under-five mortality rate in the region to the abuse of alcohol by expectant mothers.
This is definitely not a pleasant piece of news, especially considering the fact that issues of maternal and under-five mortality have serious development implications.
Placed against the background that the Upper West Region is one of the most impoverished regions in the country, the issue gets even more disturbing.
One is baffled as to why a region with tremendous development challenges and endemic poverty should have its pregnant mothers devoting their energies and resources to alcoholism.
Clearly, the Public Health Unit of the Upper West Regional Directorate of the Ghana Health Service has a crisis on its hands that must be addressed with all the seriousness it deserves.
While we recognise that there may be other pressing health challenges, the DAILY GRAPHIC believes that alcoholism as a health challenge, especially among pregnant women, cannot be relegated to the background and dismissed as trivial.
In addressing this, the Public Health Directorate, with other relevant stakeholders, will also need to identify other social factors that lead to alcoholism among such mothers and find effective solutions to them.
Perhaps this is the time to seek the support of clinical psychologists to help address the issue, taking into consideration the psychological disposition of the expectant mothers in relation to their economic, cultural and social challenges.
The DAILY GRAPHIC also wishes to encourage the Upper West Regional Health Directorate to intensify its education on the need for proper ante-natal care or services.
While we may not dispute that those services are being provided, their poor patronage by the expectant mothers could also be a contributory factor to the alcohol abuse and the subsequent health effects.
In this regard, we welcome the efforts by the regional health directorate to embark on a vigorous campaign on alcoholism and suggest that such campaigns should also take into consideration the role of the male partners and relations of these mothers in promoting alcoholism among pregnant women in the region.
Certainly, the issue of alcoholism among pregnant women can be addressed effectively and the successes chalked up in our guinea worm eradication efforts, as well as AIDS control initiatives, should serve as useful guides and sources of inspiration.
It is, indeed, gratifying to note, for instance, that the HIV/AIDS prevalence rate has dropped from 2.2 per cent in 2006 to 1.9 per cent in 2007. Evidently, a contributory factor to the significant drop has been the implementation of an effective educational drive and the DAILY GRAPHIC believes that similar rigorously pursued educational programmes can help check the issue of alcoholism among expectant mothers in the Upper West Region and other parts of the country.