GEORGETOWN, GUYANA 17 SEPTEMBER 2024- The Ministry of Health, with the support of PAHO/WHO, organized a meeting to review the national maternal and mortality surveillance data. Senior Officers representing each of the ten administrative regions attended the meeting, which was led by the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) and the Director of Primary Health Care at the Ministry of Health.
The Chief Medical Officer made a presentation on the status of Maternal Mortality in Guyana for 2020-2024. The analysis showed progress in the reduction of maternal deaths in Guyana. The CMO stated that Guyana is improving health care services provided to the population while still facing some challenges in hard-to-reach areas, mostly in hinterland regions. He encouraged health professionals to continue doing their best to provide services and to overcome the challenges identified.
Participants reviewed the Maternal Mortality data and discussed challenges and successes in providing services to pregnant women in all regions. They also identified ways to implement new strategies from lessons learned from specific regions, which could be successfully adapted to other regions.
To achieve SDG goal 3, Guyana has renewed its commitment to maternal health and to end preventable maternal mortality. The target Guyana adopted, in line with international commitments, is to reach a Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) less than 70 per 100,000 live births by 2030.
Therefore, it is critical to understand the number and causes of deaths to adjust health programs and adopt innovative interventions for improved maternal, perinatal, and neonatal survival. Systematic analyses of overall mortality trends, as well as events, and contributing factors leading to individual deaths, are also important factors to identify barriers that prevent population access to health services.
This is critical not only to improve care but also to strengthen surveillance, allowing for the timely identification, notification, quantification, and determination of potential causes of maternal deaths, which can be avoided by adopting health system preventive measures.
PAHO/WHO will continue supporting the government interventions aimed at reducing maternal mortality in Guyana focusing on training and capacity building of healthcare professionals.
