The Effects of Prayer Camps and Spiritual Healing Homes on Maternal and Fetal Mortality in Ghana - LPNI

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The Effects of Prayer Camps and Spiritual Healing Homes on Maternal and Fetal Mortality in Ghana

LPNI Health Topic – October 2022

The Effects of Prayer Camps and Spiritual Healing Homes on Maternal and Fetal Mortality in Ghana

Pregnancy and childbirth are very important phases in a woman’s life. In Ghana, the government introduced free maternal healthcare for pregnant women, but women still face a lot of challenges as some of the medical services are not covered by the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). This makes care inaccessible for women who are unable to afford the cost of these services, which include laboratory tests, various scans, Cesarean delivery, blood infusions and some medications.

Nurses at various hospitals in the country’s capital have introduced a term “Pay or Die”, a process whereby pregnant women are asked to foot their own bill because the NHIS is not inclusive and does not cover approximately 60 per cent of the average expenses.

When a pregnant woman undergoes a Cesarean, she must pay between $300 and $500 which is exorbitant for an average income earner not to mention a rural woman who is a farmer or trader. Thus they tend to patronize “prayer camps” and “spiritual healing homes” where they are indoctrinated with practices of drinking Holy Oil and Palm Oil as a means of cleansing and scaring away evil spirits that they are told would have harmed them and their unborn children. They are told the Holy Oil cures and prevents danger signs of pregnancy such as hemorrhage, fetal distress, pre-eclampsia, malpresentation, oligohydramnios and even ectopic pregnancy.

These non-traditional providers discourage pregnant women from seeking legitimate medical care by telling them that if they deliver at the hospital they will surely die. This is quite alarming. It is a cause for concern, with the increasing number of maternal mortality and maternal health complications due to pregnant women seeking aid from prayer camps and spiritual healing homes rather than at hospitals.

Some visit the less expensive prayer camps first, as instructed by their spiritual leaders, before arriving at the hospital, even when a traumatic situation is too advanced. They often lose their lives and that of their babies. The untrained healers will massage the womb in the process of turning the baby from a breech position to a cephalic presentation when they have no knowledge or skill for that procedure, causing fetal distress and detachment of the placenta from the uterus. The baby usually dies.

In some regions of the country, especially the northern part, it is a sign of bravery for women to deliver alone at home. They pride themselves to let their peers know they are stronger than others. Muslim women believe it is wrong for a male doctor or male midwife to have access to a woman’s private parts, so the partners/husbands refuse to allow their partners/wives to deliver at the hospital. This sometimes leads to death of both mother and baby. This process has been going on for a long time and will probably not be stopped in the near future.

Sussie Nsa Bassey Idiok

Christian Parish Nurse, Ghana

Good Shepherd Lutheran church.

Lutheran Seminary Congregation.

Siasabi Accra.

Ghana.