Ghana is making significant improvement in achieving targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by all member States of the United Nations.
The 17 SDGs are to ensure social inclusion, protect the environment and foster economic growth by 2030.
A Senior Statistician at the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), Vitus Bobrnuo has said the rate of maternal mortality in the West African nation significantly declined from 580 in 2017 to 301 per 100,000 live births in 2021.
He added under five mortality rate in Ghana has also reduced from 55 to 45 per 1000 live births from 2019 to 2021 respectively. Neonatal mortality rate also greatly reduced from 8.4 per 1000 in 2017 to 7.0 per 1000 in 2021.
This milestone in attaining goal 3 of the SDGs which talks about good health and well-being is attributable to the government of Ghana’s health infrastructure development program coupled with the establishment and expansion of medical drone delivery services in the country among other interventions.
Mr. Vitus noted Ghana has also made some remarkable improvement in the area of food insecurity under goal 2 which is targeting zero hunger.
He pointed out that the data shows there has been a consistent reduction from 49.5 per cent in 2017 to 47.7 per cent in June 2020 then to 47% in September 2020.
The Senior Statistician disclosed in an interview with THE CUSTODIAN during the National dissemination of Ghana’s 2022 Voluntary National Review (VNR) held in Tamale on Monday, September 5, 2022 on the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.
He intimated further that, “We can say in a whole that Ghana is making some steady improvement when it comes to monitoring the SDGs; for instances health workers distribution density has also improved over the years. So if you go through the indicators for what Ghana monitored from the VNR we’re doing quite well”.
Mr. Vitus asserted the country has also increased the number of indicators on what is being reported on compared to what was reported on two years back anticipating a further improvement in subsequent years.
Meanwhile, the Northern Regional Commissioner of National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), Dr Suleman Abudulai for his part stated the commission would continue to collaborate with all for-profit and not-for-profit entities in the country and beyond to innovate around the goals to bring development to the populace by ensuring no one behind is left behind as espoused by the UN.
“Our President’s role as a co-chair of the UN Secretary General’s SDG Advocates Emeritus Group places a responsibility on all stakeholders in the country to do their very best in implementing the goals. Together with our President, we must be the go-to best practice in the world on the goals. This will make our VNR report valuable to our peer learners” Dr Abudulai said.
