The Ga West Municipal Health Directorate has recorded a significant reduction in maternal mortality, with the municipality’s Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) falling from 137 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2025 to 49 deaths per 100,000 live births at the end of the first half of 2026.
The figure is below the municipality’s half-year target of 68.5 deaths per 100,000 live births, representing a major improvement in maternal health outcomes.
The Municipal Director of Health Services, Dr Yaa Dankwah Akuamoah-Boateng, disclosed this during a presentation at the Ga West Municipal Health Directorate as part of a maternal mortality monitoring visit by the Deputy Minister of Health, Prof. Dr Grace Ayensu-Danquah.
Dr Akuamoah-Boateng attributed the improvement to intensified maternal health interventions and the commitment of health workers across the municipality to preventing avoidable maternal deaths and improving the quality of care for pregnant women.
She said the Directorate had strengthened the monitoring of pregnant women, improved the management of pregnancy-related complications and enhanced the referral system to ensure that women requiring specialised care received timely attention.
She also stressed the importance of reviewing maternal deaths and near-miss cases, explaining that such reviews enabled health managers and healthcare providers to identify gaps in service delivery and institute corrective measures to prevent similar occurrences.
The reduction from 137 to 49 deaths per 100,000 live births represents an approximately 64.2 per cent decline compared with the 2025 figure.
Despite the progress, Dr Akuamoah-Boateng said the Directorate would not become complacent but would continue to strengthen antenatal care, skilled delivery, emergency obstetric and newborn care, postnatal services and community-level interventions.
She, however, appealed for increased investment in health infrastructure and additional medical staff, particularly medical officers and nurses, to enable health facilities to respond effectively to the growing demand for maternal health services.
The Deputy Minister of Health, Prof. Dr Grace Ayensu-Danquah, commended the Directorate for the reduction in maternal mortality and urged health workers to sustain the interventions that contributed to the achievement.
She also advised health staff to intensify counselling for expectant mothers on delivery options, particularly the increasing preference for Caesarean sections, which she said was becoming a choice for a significant proportion of women, with the rate reportedly reaching about 45 per cent.
Prof. Ayensu-Danquah urged health workers to ensure that Caesarean sections were recommended based on sound clinical indications while providing women with appropriate information and counselling on safe delivery options.
The monitoring visit also provided an opportunity for the Deputy Minister and the municipal health team to assess maternal health services, identify service delivery gaps and discuss measures to sustain the gains recorded.
The Ga West Municipal Health Directorate has reaffirmed its commitment to further reducing preventable maternal deaths and ensuring that women have access to timely, quality and safe maternal healthcare services.
With an MMR of 49 deaths per 100,000 live births against a half-year target of 68.5, the municipality has recorded significant progress in its efforts to improve maternal and newborn health outcomes.
