The National Child Health Co-ordinator of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Isabella Sagoe Moses, has advised all health facilities to encourage mothers to initiate breastfeeding within the first 24 hours of birth.
The GHS, she said, had identified breastfeeding of newborns within 24 hours of birth as one of the major interventions to reduce neonatal mortality significantly.
Dr Moses explained that among other benefits, breast milk given within 24 hours of birth strengthens the immune system of the newborn against most baby killer infections.
She made the appeal at the annual general scientific meeting (AGSM) of the Paediatric Society of Ghana in Accra last Friday.
It was held on the theme �The newborn in Ghana, fit for the future?� The meeting was aimed at discussing ways of reducing neonatal mortalities, particularly in Ghana.
The society, a child-health advocacy non-governmental organisation, aims at working to reduce neonatal mortality from 32,000 in 2011 to 21,000 in 2018.
Neonatal mortality story in Ghana
Approximately 30,000 newborns die yearly in Ghana, with 32 out of every 1000 newborns dying within one month of birth (monthly).
Dr Moses described the situation as �very alarming and gloomy, requiring urgent attention from all stakeholders.�
National plan
She said as part of measures to address neonatal mortality for the past four years, a five-year national strategic plan had been developed to be implemented at a cost of GH�80 million.
The action plan would be a road map to end preventable deaths in newborns by focusing on newborn health, she added.
The President of the society, Dr Ebenezer Badoe, called on all stakeholders, particularly the government, to prioritise the reduction of neonatal mortality in major national activities.
According to him, most of the deaths in newborns were preventable and, therefore, the people could not be pardoned for the death of a newborn.
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