Western North: More babies born without eyes, nose, ears due to galamsey

• Posted on May 10, 2021May 10, 2021
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

Medical staff in Sewum Health Centre in the Aowin District of the Western North Region are recording a high number of newborn babies without some vital body parts due to the activities of illegal mining popularly known as galamsey.

According to the Health Centre, pregnant women in the community are continuously losing their newborn babies because the women drink water contaminated with chemicals used by the illegal miners.

A Midwife in charge of the Sewum health Centre Gifty Adwoa Adjanor disclosed that the facility has been recording cases of newborn babies without nose, eyes, ears and mouth.

According to the midwife, the development is a result of the highly polluted river – which serves as a source of drinking water – due to illegal mining activities along the river bodies.

The Midwife is thus appealing to traditional leaders and other residents in the area to support the renewed fight against galamsey to enable pregnant women to give birth to healthy children.

Sewum is a cocoa growing area and also a notorious illegal mining community in the Aowin District of the Western North Region.

Drinking water in the community is heavily contaminated with chemicals used by illegal miners.

All river bodies in the area which serve as the water source for domestic and farming activities are heavily polluted due to the indiscriminate mining activities on river bodies.

The situation has left the poor community with over a population of about 1000 people with no option but to depend on the unsafe water for drinking and other domestic use.

Meanwhile, the percentage of pregnant women being delivered by professional midwives in Ghana has increased to eighty percent.

According to the Nursing and midwifery Services at the Ghana Health Service, there has also been a significant improvement in Ghana’s midwives to patient ratio. These are findings of an assessment of midwifery services in Ghana.

The Director of Nursing and Midwifery Services Mrs. Eva Mensah at the GHS made the revelation Sunday, May 9 during a Mother’s Day ceremony organized by GHOne TV and Starr FM to celebrate midwives in the country.