Advisor on Gender and Social Protection to the NPP Flagbearer, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, Akosua Manu, popularly known 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.
Speaking at a health summit in Accra, Kozie said the continued loss of women to pregnancy-related complications requires urgent national attention and a coordinated response from government and other stakeholders.
She said the death of a woman identified as Theresa Boakye at the Ridge Hospital in July had once again highlighted the devastating consequences of maternal mortality for families and communities.
Kozie cited figures indicating that 965 women died from pregnancy-related complications in Ghana in 2025, describing the situation as alarming.
“We do not take maternal mortality seriously enough,” she said, arguing that Ghana must move beyond treating maternal deaths as isolated tragedies and confront the systemic challenges contributing to them.
She called on Parliament to investigate 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.
According to her, any parliamentary inquiry must go beyond producing another report and instead lead to practical measures that can be implemented to reduce maternal deaths.
Kozie further stressed the need to make the protection of women during pregnancy, childbirth and the post-partum period a national priority, particularly as many maternal deaths can be prevented 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.
She also highlighted the often-overlooked impact of maternal deaths on newborns and families, recounting an experience in which a newborn received little attention for days because relatives were overwhelmed by the sudden loss of the child’s mother.
Kozie therefore urged national stakeholders to treat maternal mortality as an emergency requiring sustained political commitment, stronger health systems and accountability for results.
She said 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.
