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Tamale, Ghana – Margaret Afriyie, a Ghanaian midwife in the Ahafo Ano South East District of the Ashanti Region of Ghana, has been widely commended for her love and compassion towards the poor and needy especially pregnant mothers in rural areas.
Through Ms Afriyie’s unusual act of kindness towards her clients at the Ahwirewam CHPS Compound where she is currently the only midwife with three supporting Nurse Assistants, she has succeeded in encouraging more women to seek care at her facility.
According to an account of her work posted on the facebook page of the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Ghana (NMC Ghana), Ms Afriye discourages pregnant women who have not had the required antenatal care from giving birth at home.
The facebook post sighted by Savannah News says, she conducts home visit to her clients with her own resources to provide health education and encourage them as well to attend the clinic for proper care whenever they are sick or pregnant.
To realise her objective of getting more women to attend antenatal, this is Ms Afriyie’s additional trick: “I provide them with gifts such as baby clothing, diapers, milk, bread and milo when they attend the clinic for antenatal care and even after delivery I provide the mothers with diapers, milk, milo and bread to show appreciation to them for honouring antenatal appointments and delivering at the clinic”, she told officials of the NMC Ghana who paid her a visit at her work place after learning from various social media platforms what she had been doing personally for her clients as a midwife.
Below is the NMC facebook post:
UNIVERSAL HEALTH COVERAGE AT WORK
Ms. Margaret Afriyie is a Registered Midwife currently working at the Ahwerewam CHPS Compound in the Ahafo Ano South East District of the Ashanti Region. She was registered as a Midwife in 2017 after successfully passing the Post NAC/NAP Midwifery licensing examination in 2016.
After her National Service at Mankraso District Hospital, she was posted to the Ahwirewam CHPS Compound. Margaret Afriyie is apparently the only midwife at the CHPS compound and being supported by three Nurse Assistants. According to Ms. Afriyie, her facility takes care of over 5000 residents from five communities around the Ahwirewam community.
Ms. Afriyie noted that when she took up the appointment as a midwife, the facility recorded about two (2) deliveries in a month but currently recording eight (8) to twelve (12) deliveries a month.
She said that pregnancy related cases that came to her facility were very complicated due to home deliveries and self-medication during pregnancy.
She noted that in a bid to discourage the pregnant women from home and self-delivery without going through proper antenatal care, she conducts home visit to her clients with her own resources, offer health education and encourage them to attend the clinic for proper care.
When the Council heard about her activities through the social media, the Registrar, Mr. Felix Nyante dispatched a team from the Council’s Head Office to Ahwirewam to visit and interact with her to authenticate the reported story.
Ms. Afriyie was subsequently invited by the Registrar to the Council’s Head Office where she shared her story about how she is contributing to Universal Health Coverage in Ahwerewam.
“I provide them with gifts such as baby clothing, diapers, milk, bread and milo when they attend the clinic for antenatal care and even after delivery I provide the mothers with diapers, milk, milo and bread to show appreciation to them for honouring antenatal appointments and delivering at the clinic”, she joyously expressed.
As Maternal Mortality reduction remains a priority in the Goal 3 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Ms. Afriyie said she has expanded her vision with the establishment of a non-profit organization called ‘The Margret Afriyie Mother and Child Community Initiative’ to support needy pregnant and nursing mothers by providing baby clothing, diapers and food items to new mothers in deprived communities as well as engaging them in bead making.
In a bid to sustain her ability to provide gifts to pregnant women who deliver at the clinic, Ms. Afriyie told the Registrar that she had acquired a 2.5 acre land where she is growing cabbage and another 2.5 acre land where she cultivates maize.
“I use the proceeds from the cabbage and maize farm to procure the gifts for the new mothers and pregnant women who visit the clinic for antenatal and postnatal care”.
This has increased access to quality healthcare at facility thereby reducing the number of pregnant women who would have delivered at home.
By SavannahNewsOnline.Com/Philip Liebs
You are really a role model in the profession, i admire u sister Margaret.
God bless u as u inspire we the younger generations in the training field.