How Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital Achieved a 29.5% Reduction in Maternal Mortality

According to the Ashanti Regional Health Directorate, the improvement has come even as national maternal mortality figures have worsened this year — making the region's trajectory worth a closer look for anyone working to bring down deaths in referral-heavy maternal care systems.

Where the Drop Is Coming From

At the KATH 2026 Mid-Year Performance Review Conference, Regional Director of Health Services Dr Fred Adomako-Boateng presented data showing Ashanti moving against the national tide. Ghana recorded 235 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in 2025, while the Ashanti Region recorded 196 per 100,000 — yet the region still accounts for roughly one in every four maternal deaths recorded nationwide.

A mid-year dip in that context is more than a local win. It points to a shift in how the region is managing high-risk pregnancies before they reach the teaching hospital, and it raises an obvious question: what changed?

The Referral Pipeline in Focus

The most striking finding from the review concerns where maternal deaths actually originate. Data presented at the conference showed that 92% of maternal deaths recorded at KATH in 2025 involved referrals from peripheral health facilities, with only 8% originating from within the teaching hospital itself. A further breakdown indicated that 15% of the region's maternal deaths involved women referred in from outside Ashanti, while 85% were from within the region. Out of total deaths recorded in the region, 62% occurred at KATH and 38% at other facilities across Ashanti.

For any practitioner reading this, the implication is hard to miss. When nearly all maternal deaths at a tertiary centre trace back to the referral pipeline, the quality of care at the point of first contact — district hospitals, private clinics, faith-based facilities — becomes the real frontline. It is a pattern that travels well beyond Ghana.

What's Changing on the Ground

Two interventions are now underway. The Regional Health Directorate, with support from UNICEF, is partnering with KATH to strengthen the capacity of peripheral facilities through clinical mentorship. Specialists involved in developing relevant clinical guidelines at KATH will mentor health professionals at district hospitals, private facilities, and Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG) sites.

Alongside the mentorship push, the region is introducing a virtual labour wardroom designed to connect frontline healthcare workers with remote medical specialists during complex or high-risk childbirths in real time. As Dr Adomako-Boateng noted at the review, the figures show that efforts to reduce maternal deaths must extend beyond KATH and focus on strengthening care before patients reach the teaching hospital.

What to Watch

This is a mid-year result, not a final tally. The full-year data will tell us whether the virtual labour ward and the mentorship programme held, and whether the drop reflects a genuine systemic shift or a quieter referral period. For clinicians and programme managers elsewhere working in high-volume maternal referral networks, the lesson embedded in these numbers is one worth carrying forward: the gap between the peripheral facility and the tertiary centre is where most lives are either saved or lost.