CECILIA LODONU Senoo, President of Society for Women and AIDS in Africa Ghana, (SWAA) has noted that Ghana’s ability to reduce child mortality, improve maternal health and combat HIV/AIDS were vital for achieving Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), 4, 5 and 6.

She said 536,000 maternal deaths occurred annually worldwide, with 120 million couples having unmet needs for safe and effective contraception resulting in 80 million unwanted pregnancies.

Mrs. Senoo who was speaking at a day’s advocacy meeting in Accra said for Ghana to be able to achieve its MDGs it was vital for health experts to provide women with all the needed information on HIV/AIDS and maternal health.

The meeting organized by SWAA Ghana brought together donors, key sector ministers’ spouses and advocacy groups to help address issues pertaining to women’s health development.

According to Mrs. Senoo, 68,000 deaths occurred from unsafe abortions while three million girls underwent Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).

 She said sexual and reproductive health care are essential components of women’s health. For millions of women, sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services were the primary point of contact with the health care system.

She therefore called for the integration of programmes that focus on sexual health care and HIV/AIDS saying they were, “critical to increasing women’s access to HIV prevention, treatment and care which include prevention of mother to child transmission.”

The Acting Director General of Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC) Dr Angela El-Adas said gonorrhoea increases the concentration of cells in genital secretions that can serve as targets for HIV infection.

She averred that men infected with gonorrhoea were more likely to shed the HIV virus from their genital secretions than those who were HIV positive but had not contracted gonorrhoea.

She added that about 28 per cent of all pregnant women accessing ante-natal care services had gone through counseling and HIV testing in Ghana.

According to her this falls short of the 80 per cent target for achieving universal access by 2010.

Highlighting what SWAA stands for, the President of SWAA International, Bernice Heloo said it is a Pan-African women’s organisation that addresses women and their children’s struggle in the fight against HIV/AIDS.