Ghana is stepping up efforts to reduce preventable maternal deaths, with the Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Dr Agnes Naa Momo Lartey, calling for urgent and coordinated action to save the lives of pregnant women across the country.
Dr Lartey made the call at a maternal mortality roundtable convened by the Office of the President through the SDGs Advisory Unit, in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund and the National Development Planning Commission. The meeting was held under the theme, “No Woman Should Lose Her Life to Give a Life, Presidential Initiative to Accelerate Reduction in Maternal Mortality in Ghana.”
The engagement brought together government officials, development partners, health experts, civil society groups, as well as religious and traditional leaders to review Ghana’s maternal health outcomes and recommit to decisive action.
Addressing participants, the Minister said maternal mortality is not only a health issue but also a gender and social protection concern that requires fairness, accountability and strong action at the community level. She stressed that saving women’s lives must go beyond hospitals and clinics.
She called for stronger community accountability systems to ensure that maternal deaths are not accepted as normal or concealed, but properly investigated so lessons can be learned and future deaths prevented.
“History will not judge us by the speeches we deliver today, but by the lives we save through the path we take,” Dr Lartey said. She urged participants to leave the meeting with clear commitments, defined responsibilities, timelines and mechanisms to ensure accountability.
The Minister said maternal health should not be seen as the duty of one ministry or institution, but a shared moral responsibility involving political leaders, religious and traditional authorities, and communities.
“When women survive, children are born, families thrive, communities prosper, and nations grow,” she said, adding that saving women’s lives is not an act of charity but an issue of justice and a true reflection of Ghana’s values.
