Mr. Isaac Kingsley Ahunu-Armah, Gomoa East District Chief Executive, has appealed to husbands not to regard child health programmes as a preserve for wives.
"Fathers must be seen as playing a role in the health needs of their children not only through releasing money but also in physical involvement," he said.
Mr. Ahunu-Armah said this when he joined a team of nurses led by the District Director of Health Service, Mr. Samuel Sosi, in the Integrated Maternal and Child Health (IMCH) campaign at Gomoa Asebu near Winneba.
The IMCH campaign 2009, which was held nationwide from November 12-14, was to administer polio immunization for children from birth to five years, de-worm children from two to five years, to administer vitamin A supplement for children from six months to five years and breastfeeding mothers within eight weeks of delivery.
Mr. Ahunu-Armah said "We all owe it a duty to assist the government to achieve millennium development goals four and five years which enjoins reducing child and maternal mortality by 2015."
He appealed to the Birth and Death Registry to set aside some days to organise birth registration at vantage centres especially in the rural areas with assistance from the district assemblies.
Nana Aba Ekwamah, Twafohene of Asebu and Obaatankuma of Gomoa Ajumako Traditional Area, urged queen-mothers to help in educating mothers in their communities to avail their children whenever there was immunization exercise.
Mrs. Elizabeth Bain-Doodu, District Public Health Nurse, appealed to the government to provide the district with additional vehicle for outreach programmes.
Mr. Sosi said through the intensive campaign and health care service under-five mortality had reduced in the country but considered 80 out of 1,000 live births as still too high which the nation must work on.
He said maternal mortality of 451 out of 100,000 live births in the country was also too high and advised pregnant women to deliver at recognised health facilities.
The theme for the three-day campaign was "Healthier Mothers and Children Make a Better Ghana".
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