Participants at a days forum on maternal health in Ho have urged Metropolitan, Municipal and District assemblies to prepare special budgets to promote maternal health in their areas.

The participants said the assemblies could not remain unconcerned while women die during child birth and urged them to demonstrate commitment to the fight against maternal mortality.

The forum was dubbed Open Ghana: Data Journalism for Improved Maternal Healthcare Delivery and was attended by media practitioners, civil society organizations, community-based organizations, health officials and the academia.

It was organised by the International Institute of ICT Journalism-Penplusbytes with support from STAR-Ghana.

Participants suggested that a priority budget of one per cent of the Assemblies Common Fund could be used for education and the provision of some crucial interventions to promote maternal health.

Dr. Gameli Norgbe, Acting Dean, School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS) asked the Assemblies to develop institutional linkages with health facilities to help in the fight against maternal mortality.

Madam Commend rpt Commend Akpeloo, the Volta Regional Chairperson of Coalition of NGOs in Health, said assembly members would hardly attend seminars and fora on maternal mortality and treated the issue as womens issues.

She said it appeared many assembly members were not conversant with the countrys policy paths to attain Millennium Development Goal five targets.

It is time the Assemblies showed the way in improving maternal health issues in their areas, Madam Akpeloo said.

Mr Yao Semordey, Presiding Member for Ho Municipal Assembly, said the Assembly had a budget for social issues and that stakeholders needed to present a case to the Assembly for consideration for a special budget on maternal health.

Mama Attrato II, the Queen of Ho-Dome, called for attitudinal change among men towards the health of their wives.

Togbe Kwami Ahiabenu II, the President of Penplusbytes, said the project was to empower the media to use data journalism techniques to advocate for better maternal health delivery.

He said journalists were also expected to use the tools in monitoring spending on maternal health at the districts in the Volta Region.

Ho Municipal Assembly has no provision for health and education under the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF) for 2014 as captured in its Composite Budget for the fiscal year.

It however projected GH151, 198.07 for administration, and GH3,200.00 for agriculture for utilization under the DACF for the year.

When contacted, Mr Emmanuel Apawudza, Budget Analyst for the Assembly told the Ghana News Agency that the information in the composite budget could be misleading and that the Assembly supported health and education.

GNA