The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection has sounded the alarm over Ghana’s deteriorating maternal health situation, disclosing that close to 900 women have died from pregnancy- and childbirth-related complications so far in 2025.
The revelation was made by the Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Agnes Naa Momo Lartey, during a high-level stakeholder engagement in Accra, where she described the figures as deeply worrying and unacceptable despite sustained investments in maternal healthcare over the years.
She noted that Ghana’s maternal mortality ratio has improved only marginally in the past decade, dropping from 316 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2010 to 301 in 2020. At this slow rate of progress, the country risks missing the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target of reducing maternal mortality to 70 deaths per 100,000 live births by 2030, she warned.
Recent data from the Ghana Health Service shows that gains have stalled, with maternal deaths increasing slightly from 100 per 100,000 live births in 2023 to 102 in 2024, raising concerns about the effectiveness and sustainability of current interventions.
Addressing participants at the Presidential Maternal Health Dialogue in Accra, Madam Lartey said many of the deaths are preventable but continue to occur due to weak health systems, delays in antenatal care, poor emergency transport and referral networks, and socio-cultural barriers that discourage timely care-seeking, particularly in rural and hard-to-reach areas.
The Deputy Chief of Staff at the Office of the President, Oye Bampo, corroborated the figures, confirming that nearly 900 maternal deaths had been recorded nationwide as of November 2025. He cautioned that the number could surpass 1,000 by the end of the year if urgent corrective measures are not implemented.
Speaking on behalf of the Health Minister, Dr Hafez Adam Taher, Director of Technical Coordination and Health Planning at the Ministry of Health, admitted that Ghana is currently off track in meeting its maternal mortality targets under the Universal Health Coverage roadmap. He attributed the situation to persistent challenges, including inadequate emergency transport services, limited blood availability and transfusion systems, weak supply chains for essential maternal health commodities, and inconsistent application of maternal and newborn death surveillance mechanisms.
Beyond its health impact, Madam Lartey described maternal mortality as a national development and human rights crisis, revealing that even the Ministry of Gender has recorded a maternal death among the nearly 900 cases this year.
In response, the government says it will scale up interventions, including the uncapping of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) and the expansion of social protection programmes under the Mahama Cares Initiative, to reduce financial and logistical barriers to emergency maternal care.
Calling for a collective national effort, the Gender Minister urged traditional and religious leaders, families, local authorities, civil society organisations, the media and the private sector to share responsibility for addressing the crisis.
“Saving women’s lives is not charity; it is justice,” she said, warning that without swift and coordinated action, childbirth will continue to claim the lives of Ghanaian women.
