Queen of Sheba Health Services is a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) based in Gushegu, Northern Ghana.
Our motto is ‘To bring life with Love’, especially to mothers and children.
Our vision is to let Jesus’ love become visible by contributing to safe pregnancies and dignified birth for all mothers and babies, allowing families in Ghana to flourish.
Our mission is to improve healthcare for mothers and children by:
- Providing good quality, affordable medical care with a holistic and respectful approach.
- Giving health education to pregnant women, their partners and the wider community.
- Training local health care staff to improve their professional knowledge and skills.
- Doing scientific research.
Here [hyperlink] you can read more about how we aim to realize our mission.
Queen of Sheba Health Services was founded in February 2020 by Gerben and Dorien Boon. Their family has been living and working in Northern Ghana since January 2016. They are on the board [hyperlink] of the Queen of Sheba NGO together with Dr. Abukari Yakubu and Ms. Abigail Nasimong.
Mortality rates among mothers and children in Ghana have dropped over the past decades. However, in the past ten years there has been no significant improvement. In Ghana, in 2018 the mortality among pregnant women was 1 in 325 women. In the Netherlands, in that year about 1 in 14.000 women died as a result of pregnancy. Also in 2018, in Ghana 1 in 36 live-born babies died within a month after birth whereas in the Netherlands the figure is only 1 in 500.
One of the factors contributing to the high mortality rate among mothers and children lies in the fact that women either don’t go to hospital, or, whilst in need of medical care during pregnancy or childbirth, they get there too late. Additionally, the quality of care in many healthcare facilities is substandard.
To improve maternal and child care in Northern Ghana it is important that both mother and child seek medical care timely. At the same time, this medical care needs to be of good quality and affordable. This is the challenge Queen of Sheba Health Services responds to.
Luckily, we don’t have to realize this mission on our own; we cooperate with a range of partners [hyperlink].
To understand what prevents pregnant women from visiting the hospital, and to better understand local needs, Gerben first set up a scientific study, interviewing a wide range of people in Gushegu and its surrounding villages. He executed this study with the help of medical students who did their internship in Ghana. This resulted in a clear picture of local culture, convictions, practices and challenges with regard to pregnancy and childbirth in and around Gushegu.
The study results eventually gave rise to our vision to set up a mother-child clinic for midwifery care: ‘Queen of Sheba Medical Center’. Our NGO managed to acquire a nicely situated plot of land just outside of Gushegu. At the moment, we are work on plans and architectural drawings for the clinics. At the same time, we are raising funds. Hopefully we can start the actual build soon!