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Health Minister assures international community of government commitment to reduce maternal death cases
The Minister of Health Mr Kwaku Agyemang-Manu has assured the international community of the government’s commitment to drastically reduce maternal death cases, following robust systems put in place to ensure safe pregnancy and delivery.
He said although the country has witnessed an extreme reduction in maternal death cases since 1988, the government is massively investing in the health sector to ensure zero deaths during childbirth.
In a speech read on his behalf at the opening ceremony of the general membership meeting of the Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition (RHSC) last week Friday in Accra, the Minister said, that between 2020 and 2022, the Ghana Health Service (GHS) and its partners provided about $14.4 million worth of Family Planning Products (FPP) in the country.
The partners he mentioned were the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the Global Fund and the West African Health Organisation (WAHO).
“Beyond this, they have continuously accompanied us on this journey through technical assistance and mentoring to make sure women have access to a variety of family planning services.
These collaborations, combined with our sustained commitment, have resulted in significant demographic shifts, notably a marked decline in births per woman [(total births per woman reduced from 6.4 in 1988 to 4.2 in 2014 (GDHS)] and reductions in household size [(4.4 in 2010 to 3.6 in 2021- (2021 Population and Housing Census” Agyemang-Manu said.
He said the Ministry of Health’s National E-Health Project, featuring the Lightwave Health Information Management System (LHIMS) has gained strong prospects.
He explained that the project was a centralized health-data repository ensuring the availability of patient records across the healthcare continuum.
Mr Agyemang-Manu said the project had enhanced patient record portability across all healthcare facilities on the platform, eliminated paper patient folders, reduced container and storage space costs, and reduced patient waiting times between 35-40 per cent.
The RHSC Executive Committee Member Madam Nene Fofana-Cisse thanked member countries for their unwavering commitments to ensuring lives are protected during childbirth.
She said the meeting was to dialogue brainstorm and examine COVID-19’s impact on funding for reproductive health supplies and related markets and supply chains, drawing lessons from how the sector responded, and celebrating its unique resilience.
BY BERNARD BENGHAN
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Focus on more pressing issues like Galamsey, not hate speech – Ellen Ama Daaku to Mahama
An aide to former Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia,Ellen Ama Daaku has advised President John Dramani Mahama to shift his attention from social media hate speech to more urgent national issues such as illegal mining.
Speaking in an interview, she noted that the President’s recent comments about tracking the IP addresses of people who spread hate speech were unnecessary.
According to her, President Mahama must first define what he considers to be hate speech before seeking to punish people for it.
Ms. Daaku argued that the President himself had benefitted from hate speech and social media attacks in the past when he was in opposition.
She said even during his time in government, he described his opponents and their tribesmen in unpalatable terms, which later drew complaints from former President Nana Akufo-Addo to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference.
She stressed that harsh criticism of leaders on social media should not automatically be considered hate speech, adding that former leaders, including former President Nana Akufo-Addo had all been subjected to it.
“He is only feeling what Nana Akufo-Addo went through for eight years,” she remarked.
While acknowledging the need to regulate misconduct online, Ms. Daaku insisted that going after social media activists should not be a priority.
She noted that many political activists, including herself, had been insulted and attacked online but never called for arrests.
She concluded that President Mahama should focus his energy on solving pressing problems such as galamsey and the economy instead of concentrating on critics on social media.
By: Jacob Aggrey
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Prof Alidu Seidu files nomination for Tamale Central seat
The newly elected parliamentary candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for Tamale Central, Prof Alidu Seidu, has submitted his nomination forms to the Electoral Commission.
As of 10:00 a.m. today, he was the only person who had filed to contest the seat.
Nomination of candidates will close at the end of the day.
Associate Professor and Head of the Political Science Department at the University of Ghana Legon, Prof. Alidu Seidu won the National Democratic Congress (NDC) parliamentary primaries in the Tamale Central constituency with a landslide victory.
The elections, supervised by the party’s Elections and IT Directorate in the Northern Region, saw Prof. Seidu poll 840 votes out of the total valid ballots cast.
His closest contender, Lawyer Hanan Gundadow Abdul-Rahaman, secured 536 votes.
The other aspirants could not make significant gains, with Dr. Seidu Fiter obtaining 44 votes, Aliu Abdul-Hamid 23 votes, and the rest recording fewer than 10 votes each.
In all, 1,500 ballots were cast, with 6 ballots rejected and 7 spoilt ballots recorded.
The results were signed and declared by Dr. Arnold Mashud Abukari, NDC Northern Regional Director of Elections and IT.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) held parliamentary primaries in Tamale Central to choose a candidate for the upcoming by-election following the death of the sitting Member of Parliament, Dr. Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed. Dr. Mohammed, who also served as Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, tragically died in a military helicopter crash in the Adansi Akrofuom District on August 6, 2025, alongside seven others.
His passing left the Tamale Central seat vacant, as required by Ghana’s 1992 Constitution.
The Electoral Commission has scheduled the by-election for September 30, 2025. While the NDC moved quickly to open nominations and vet aspirants, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) announced it would not contest the seat, citing the need to respect the somber circumstances and promote national unity.
By: Jacob Aggrey
