Maternal Mortality: Safeguarding Motherhood in Ghana

Maternal mortality, the death of a woman during pregnancy, childbirth, or shortly after delivery, remains one of the most critical public health challenges in Sub-Saharan Africa. In Ghana, losing a mother is more than a medical failure; it is a deep loss that affects families, communities, and the economy.

While Ghana has made great progress in making childbirth safer over the last few decades, that progress has recently slowed down. To protect expectant mothers, we must look at where the system is working and where it is failing.

The Numbers: Where Ghana Stands Today

During the era of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) from 1990 to 2015, Ghana saw historic success. The maternal mortality ratio (MMR) dropped significantly from around 740 deaths per 100,000 live births in 1990 down to 319 by 2015.

However, under the current Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which aim for a global target of fewer than 70 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births by 2030, Ghana’s progress has plateaued. By recent counts, the number has hovered around 308 deaths per 100,000 live births. For a country known for its economic and political stability in West Africa, this number remains far too high.

What Are the Main Medical Causes?

Nearly two-thirds of all maternal deaths in Ghana are caused by direct, preventable medical complications. The leading clinical causes include:

• Severe Bleeding (Obstetric Hemorrhage): Uncontrolled bleeding during or right after childbirth is the leading killer, causing up to 30% of maternal deaths.
• High Blood Pressure (Pre-eclampsia/Eclampsia): Dangerous spikes in blood pressure account for nearly 14% to 19% of deaths.
• Unsafe Abortions: Complications from non-medical terminations cause roughly 20% of direct maternal deaths in certain areas, pointing to a major need for better family planning and reproductive education.
• Infections (Sepsis): Infections caused by poor hygiene during delivery or prolonged labor remain a constant threat.

Indirect factors like severe anaemia, malaria, and underlying heart conditions also make pregnancy much more dangerous for many women.

Government Policies and Interventions

Ghana has launched several key initiatives to make maternal healthcare cheaper and more accessible:

• Free Maternal Healthcare Policy: Integrated into the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), this policy covers the cost of antenatal care, deliveries (including C-sections), and postnatal care to relieve families of financial burdens.
• The CHPS Model: Community-Based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) place small clinics and midwives directly into rural villages, bringing basic healthcare closer to home.
• Maternal Death Audits (MDSR): The Maternal Death Surveillance and Response system requires health officials to review every single maternal death. The goal is to find exactly what went wrong and fix the system so it doesn’t happen again.

To bridge the gap and meet international safety standards, Ghana must shift its focus from creating policies to strictly funding and enforcing them.

Key steps forward include investing heavily in rural health infrastructure, specifically blood banks and emergency vehicles, and offering incentives for midwives to work in remote villages. Ensuring safe motherhood is not just about tracking numbers; it is a fundamental human right that keeps Ghanaian families whole.