Fertility rate drops

THE rate of reproduction (fertility rate) among Ghanaian women has dropped from 6.4 children per woman in 1998 to 4.0 in 2008, making the trend the lowest in sub-Saharan Africa.
However, the total fertility rate among women in rural Ghana stands at 4.9 children per woman, as against 3.1 in urban Ghana.
The total fertility rate is the number of children a woman would be expected to have over her reproductive period.
Addressing participants at a workshop in Accra yesterday to disseminate the 2008 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey (GDHS), the Chief Statistician of the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), Mr Baah Wadieh, said the fertility rate declined with increasing education of women.
He noted that for the first time the survey collected information on spousal violence and the findings showed that three in 10 women and one in every four men were abused emotionally by their spouses or partners.
The survey indicated that women with secondary education or higher educational attainment had an average of 2.1 children, while those with no education had an average of six children.
He said mortality among children under five declined substantially from 111 per 1,000 live births in 2003 to 80 per 1,000 live births, which implied that currently one in every 13 children died before reaching his or her fifth birthday.
On family planning, the survey revealed that the proportion of women who used any method of contraception doubled from 13 per cent to 24 per cent over the past 20 years.
It further revealed that those who used modern methods of contraception increased from five per cent in 1998 to 17 per cent in 2008.
The 2008 GDHS, according to the Chief Statistician, also showed that vaccination coverage had increased for children aged 12 to 23 months but said two out of 10 of those children were still not receiving the full vaccination.
"There has been only a slight improvement in the nutrition of babies; six in 10 children under six months are exclusively breastfed," he stated.
On the use of tobacco and alcohol, Mr Wadieh said 35 per cent of men and 18 per cent of women drank alcoholic beverages, while six per cent of men used tobacco.
He explained that the GDHS had been conducted every five years since 1988, noting that the 2008 survey was the fifth in the series.
The survey has typically collected demographic and health information from reproductive-age women and men in scientifically sampled households across the country.
For the 2008 survey, Mr Wadieh said out of the 12,323 households that were selected, a 99 per cent response rate was realised.
In a speech read on his behalf, the Deputy Minister of Health, Dr Benjamin Kumbuor, said the GDHS report had brought to the fore information that could guide policy formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
He said he was pleased with the collaborative efforts made by the GSS and the Ghana Health Service (GHS) in conducting the survey, as well as all the development partners who supported the exercise.
Representatives from the USAID, the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC), UNICEF and other development partners delivered messages at the function.