Nurses & Midwifery Council of Ghana Allegedly Sabotages RENEF Foundation’s Miss Nightingale 2023 Campaign on Surging Cases of Maternal Deaths

Reproductive Needs & Fitness Foundation (RENEF Foundation); a Non-Governmental Organization says not less than 5000 babies die during or after birth annually and this must be a matter of national interest. Miss Abigail Antwi-Baafi, the executive director of the NGO made this known in a press conference in Sunyani to address not just babies dying during or after birth but also mothers who lose their lives during birth (Maternal Mortality) which is also on the rise.

Miss Antwi-Baafi said Statistics from Centre for health information management (DHIMS2) reveals that over the past five years (2018 to 2022), the year 2022 recorded the highest maternal mortality cases in Ghana with a peak record of 947 informing her NGO’s decision to start advocacy and education on maternal & child mortality dubbed “Improve Maternal and Child Health Care” as part of their already existing campaign against Gender-Based Violence dubbed “Beyond The 16 Days Activism Against Gender-Based Violence”. RENEF Foundation continued that 875 deaths occured in 2021, 779 deaths in 2020, 838 deaths in 2019, and 876 deaths in 2018.

As an organisation that believes in promoting good health through diverse ways, RENEF rebranded Miss Elegance which was introduced in 2021 as part of the Year of Nurses & Midwives Celebration (YONM-2021) to MISS NIGHTINGALE to champion the agenda of Gender-based Violence and the Improve Maternal & Child Mortality initiative in their bit to intensify sensitization on the rising canker with focus on Malnutrition /Anaemia, Hygiene, Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT)-HIV AIDS and Maternal and Neonatal  Mortality.

Miss Antwi-Baafi said her NGO partnered with about 20 Nursing & Midwifery Schools both public and private to use their existing pageantry to champion these campaigns. A Television content dubbed Miss Nightingale 2023 was been produced as part of our initiative to create not just awareness but to education the public on these social menaces.

However a circular by the Nurses & Midwifery Council of Ghana which subtly seeks to cast a bad light on our image and core purpose and with all the greatest of respect, deem to be very unfortunate.
Also, the narrative out there seeks to project the content of pageantry within the circles of the Nursing and Midwifery Students as a novel act created by our organization which is actually not the truth. As an organization, we only took interest in the already existing on- campus pageant only as a means of addressing the disturbing issues of maternal and child health and nothing more.

“For anyone to seek to in any way denigrate the purpose of our existence by negating the reasons of the pageant will be most unfortunate.  As an organization, we are always looking for ways to in the very best push our educational and promotion agenda on all relevant public health issues and this we will never relent with all stakeholders.’’

She said her NGO over the past years partnered with companies to organize entrepreneurship skills training (hair shampoos and conditioner, after wash, smoothies and drinks and soap making and a lot more) for Nursing and Midwifery students at KNUST school of Nursing, Agogo Nursing and Midwifery training college, Kumasi Nursing training college and Korle-bu Nursing and Midwifery training college
Also sensitization walks and a performing arts competition organized among the five tertiary institutions within the Bono region to create awareness on Gender-based violence many other projects have been executed with internally generated funds and little support from cooperate Ghana.

RENEF Foundation therefore invites all stakeholders, donors both local and international, cooperate bodies, civil society organizations and N.G.O’s with like interest to support them to fight these social menace as her organisation in the years ahead is poised to do its best in support of maternal and child health care delivery services in Ghana to bring the alarming cases of maternal and neonatal mortality under control.