PROJECT
Reducing Maternal Morbidity and Mortality Through Increased Access to Comprehensive Abortion Care and Family Planning Services in Ghana

Like most countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Ghana suffers from high maternal mortality and morbidity due partly to high rates of unwanted fertility and unsafe abortion and relatively low use of modern contraception. Although the Government of Ghana has made impressive gains in recent years, access to reproductive health services remains poor, particularly so for the majority of the population who live in rural, impoverished, and isolated communities. Only 19 percent of married women of reproductive age use modern contraceptive methods (PRB 2006), and data from the 2003 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey indicate that 16 percent of all births in Ghana are unwanted, 40 percent are unplanned, and 24 percent are mistimed (Macro International 2004). Rates of postabortion care service provision are particularly low: In 2004, only 1 of 10 regional hospitals, 41 percent of other hospitals (district and other hospitals), and 12 percent of other lower-level facilities reported providing postabortion care (GHS and QHP 2005). Mistimed, unplanned, and unwanted fertility arises from limited access to and use of family planning services.

The abortion law in Ghana, never fully implemented, could be interpreted to allow most Ghanaian women the legal option to terminate an unwanted pregnancy.

The goals of the Reducing Maternal Morbidity and Mortality program are to:

• support the Government of Ghana in achieving its contraceptive prevalence goal of 39 percent by 2015 by making contraceptives—including long-acting and permanent methods—and comprehensive abortion care routinely available and utilized at all levels of the public and private health service delivery system; and
• reduce mortality and morbidity due to unsafe abortion in three focus regions, thus contributing to Ghana's achievement of Millennium Development Goal 5 (improving maternal health).

The program will provide the commitment and financial and technical resources that will enable the government and a variety of local and international partners to launch a collaboration that will significantly expand women’s access to modern family planning and comprehensive abortion care. Meeting these aims will reduce unwanted fertility and the severe complications and deaths caused by unsafe abortion.

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Location

Three health regions and six districts in Ghana

Duration

September 2007–August 2008

Population Council researchers

Placide Tapsoba, Ayorinde Ajayi

Non-Council collaborators

EngenderHealth

Ipas

Macro International, Inc.

Marie Stopes International

Willows Foundation

Donor

Anonymous

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See Also

• Ghana
• Safe Motherhood
• Reproductive Health Program

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