Akosua Manu calls for national emergency response to maternal mortality crisis
Advisor on Gender and Social Protection to the NPP Flagbearer, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, Akosua Manu known in media circles as Kozie has called for a national emergency response to Ghana’s maternal mortality crisis, urging Parliament to institute a bipartisan inquiry into the deaths of women during pregnancy and childbirth amid rising cases of maternal mortality in the country.
According to her, the continued loss of women to pregnancy-related complications requires urgent national attention and a coordinated response from government and other stakeholders.
In a Facebook post reacting to the death of a woman identified as Theresa Boakye who painfully lost her life at the Ridge Hospital in July of this year, Kozie said the tragedy had once again brought into sharp focus the devastating consequences of maternal mortality on families and communities.
She noted that 965 women died from pregnancy-related complications in Ghana in 2025, describing the figure as alarming and stressing that behind every statistic was a mother, wife, daughter, sister or friend.
“We do not take maternal mortality seriously enough,” she stated, arguing that Ghana must move beyond treating maternal deaths as isolated tragedies and confront the systemic challenges that contribute to them.
Kozie called on Parliament to investigate the factors responsible for maternal deaths, including the availability of emergency obstetric care, blood supplies, referral systems, staffing levels, response times and conditions at health facilities.
She stressed that any parliamentary inquiry must result in practical measures rather than another report that receives little or no implementation.
She said Ghana must make the protection of women during pregnancy, childbirth and the post-partum period a national priority, particularly because many maternal deaths are preventable when appropriate systems and interventions are in place.
“When we pay attention, when we put the right systems in place and when we are deliberate about maternal healthcare, we save lives,” she said.
Kozie also drew attention to the often-overlooked impact of maternal deaths on newborns and families, recounting her experience of a newborn receiving little attention for days because relatives were overwhelmed by the sudden loss of the child’s mother.
She therefore urged national stakeholders to treat maternal mortality as an emergency requiring sustained political commitment, stronger health systems and accountability for results.
She concluded that Ghana has the capacity to do better and must act decisively to ensure that childbirth becomes a moment of joy rather than a source of preventable loss and grief.
