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As part of its efforts to help Ghana reduce maternal and child mortality rates, the Chinese government has sponsored 22 Ghanaian health workers to undergo a three-month training course in China. The training course, which is on Maternal Health Service, will be held in Chengdu in the Sichuan Province of China and is expected to help the participants - doctors, nurses and midwives - acquire the necessary experience in improving maternal health and reducing child mortality. Speaking at a sending-off ceremony held for the participants on Monday, the Chinese Ambassador, Sun Baohong, said improving maternal health and reducing child mortality were two important aspects of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and by this year (2015), it was expected that the mortality rate of newborns and under-five children would be reduced by 2/3 and the maternal mortality rate by 3/4. She said China, through hard work, has achieved both targets of the MDGs 4 and 5, and has accumulated some experience and techniques, which they would love to share with Ghana. She added that even though China has achieved the target, the mortality rate in rural China was still high. �There is still a long way to go to improve the maternal health service for rural areas.� Madam Baohong said, �The Ghanaian government also puts a lot of emphasis on improving maternal health in the country, with the President and First Lady addressing the issue on a number of occasions.� In 2012, she said the Ministry of Health, which also takes the issue as its topmost priority, approached the Chinese Embassy with a proposed training plan to help the health sector improve on the issue. China in 2014 was able to hold a training programme on maternal health for 25 doctors, midwives and nurses. The embassy is hopeful that another batch of health workers would participate in another training programme next year. �Reducing maternal and child mortality is a systematic project which cannot be accomplished at a stroke. It requires consistent policy support of the government in increasing the input, building more maternal hospitals and clinics, training more qualified doctors and midwives and mobilising more social resources for hospital delivery and spreading maternal health knowledge,� Madam Baohong said. She wished the participants a fruitful stay in China, adding that, �I sincerely hope that when you come back you will transfer the techniques and experienced you learned from China.� Dr Sylvester Anemana, Chief Director of the Ministry of Health, speaking on behalf of the Minister of Health, said maternal health service provision was a priority for social development since a population�s health status depended on the broad indicators of its maternal and childhood mortality rates. �Technical training of this kind will improve the skills of maternal and child health service providers for good maternal and neonatal outcomes. �Government is committed to and recognises maternal health as a human right issue and that �no woman should die giving life�. It is in this regard that government, in collaboration with our health partners, has taken several measures to improve maternal health outcomes,� he said. He added that over the last decade, maternal health services in Ghana have seen marked improvement, with antenatal coverage increasing from 82% in 1988 to 92% in 2014. He, however, said there were still some challenges confronting the country and intense efforts were required to reduce mortalities drastically in order to meet the MDGs. Mr Anemana thanked the Chinese Embassy for the continuous support to improve Ghana�s social interventions to fight maternal and child mortality. He charged the participants to be good ambassadors of Ghana in China.