Tema Metro Records 162 Stillbirths in 2025, Raising Alarm Over Quality of Maternal Care

The Tema Metropolitan Area recorded 162 stillbirths in 2025, a figure that health officials say exposes troubling gaps in the quality of maternal and neonatal care despite high rates of antenatal attendance across the metropolis.

Data released by the Tema Metropolitan Health Directorate shows that of the 162 foetal deaths, 97 were classified as macerated stillbirths — cases where the foetus died before labour — while 65 were fresh stillbirths, typically linked to complications during delivery. The perinatal mortality rate stood at 45 deaths per 1,000 deliveries, a figure that underscores the scale of the challenge facing health facilities in one of Ghana’s most urbanised districts.

Tema General Hospital accounted for the overwhelming majority of cases, registering 147 of the 162 stillbirths — roughly 91 per cent of the metropolitan total. The concentration of cases at the facility raises pointed questions about staffing levels, equipment availability, and the capacity of frontline clinicians to respond to obstetric emergencies in a timely manner.

Doris Ocansey, the Adolescent Reproductive Health Focal Person at the Tema Metropolitan Health Directorate, said the trend should prompt a serious reckoning with the quality of care that pregnant women receive. She noted that the persistence of macerated stillbirths suggests gaps in the quality of care rather than access, pointing out that many women in the metropolis attend four or more antenatal visits, with some exceeding eight — well above the programme target.

The distinction between macerated and fresh stillbirths is clinically significant. Fresh stillbirths are frequently associated with undetected foetal distress and delays in clinical decision-making during labour. Macerated stillbirths, by contrast, signal complications that develop before labour begins — including prolonged pregnancy, maternal infections, and placental abnormalities — conditions that should be identified and managed during routine antenatal check-ups.

Officials noted that overall stillbirth numbers had declined between 2022 and 2024, but the 2025 data marks a reversal of that trend, driven primarily by the rise in macerated cases. The persistence of this pattern across multiple years suggests that the problem is structural rather than episodic.

The health directorate has called for strengthened antenatal care focused on accurate risk assessment, improved referral pathways for high-risk pregnancies, and a comprehensive review of delivery and post-delivery services. Tema General Hospital, given its share of cases, has been identified as a priority site for intensified monitoring and additional resource allocation.

Ghana has made notable progress in expanding access to maternal health services over the past decade, but the Tema data serves as a reminder that coverage alone does not guarantee outcomes. A recent UNICEF report warned that Ghana spends too little on its youngest children, a misallocation that begins even before birth, when the quality of antenatal and delivery care falls short of what is needed to prevent preventable deaths.

With a perinatal mortality rate of 45 per 1,000 deliveries, the Tema Metro figures place the metropolis well above what public health experts consider acceptable. Closing the gap will require not only more resources but a fundamental shift in how health systems measure and respond to the quality of care they deliver.

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