It’s good news to learn that uniBank, recently invested 2.1 million Ghana Cedis ($600,000 USD) into the renovations on the second floor of the maternity block at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra.  The last time I was in the maternity ward at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital was in 2013 when I was reporting for The Maternal Health Channel TV Series.  We saw first hand some of the shocking challenges faced by the staff on a daily basis.  This is Ghana’s largest hospital and is known as one of the continent of Africa’s best hospitals.  Many of the other hospitals and clinics in the country refer patients there which can be very overwhelming in all departments.  To see Korle Bu struggling in patient care because of inadequate space and facilities was and still is very disheartening.

CEO of uniBank Ghana, Felix Nyarko-Pong said, “We at uniBank recognize not only the role of women, but also the importance in ensuring that mother’s have the due care in giving us the next generation of leaders. Then we decided to embark on this project.”  The bank has made an investment that will not only benefit those today, but for many years to come.  The wards have been made more spacious and provided improvements in equipment to care for patients and newborns.  It’s been said that the bank plans to continue by providing help in some of the rural communities where adequate care is not always readily available.

The United Nations Millenium Development Goal #5 was to reduce maternal mortality by 75% by this year, 2015.  Although slight improvements have been seen in countries like Ghana, there is still a long way to go in reaching the goal.  Too many women still die after giving birth.  The same goes for newborns who don’t receive the care needed in order to survive possible illness after delivery.

This renovation at Korle Bu is one small step in the right direction.  Hopefully we will see many more companies take the initiative and invest in the well-being of mothers and newborns.