Up to 30% of Ghanaian women die from unsafe abortions

I was recently present at a talk given by Dr Jehu Appiah on the subject of unsafe abortions in Ghana and learnt to my horror that as much as 22-30% of all deaths of Ghanaian women are attributable to unsafe abortions.

These shocking statistics were recorded by the Korle Bu and Okomfo Anokye teaching hospital in Ghana and to my mind emphasises the importance of focusing on the reproductive health of African women, one of the core thematic areas that AWDF works in.

Some of the causes cited by Dr Jehu Appiah as the cause of this high abortion rates included religious conservatism, a lack of knowledge about the liberality of Ghana's abortion law and some traditional practices. An anecdote cited included a traditional practice in some parts of Ghana where a chief can point to a female and choose her to be his wife. Some of these elderly chiefs die leaving behind young 'wives' who will then have to get rid of any subsequent pregnancies that cannot be attributed to the chief.

In a country where only 19-21% of the population access family planning services much more work needs to be done to improve the health and reproductive rights of women. As Dr Jehu-Appiah reminded his audience failing to deal with the issue of unsafe abortions will prevent Ghana from achieving the Millenium Development Goals.

Nana Sekyiamah
Programme Officer
Fundraising & Communications