A few hours before he was due to bury his wife, a young Ghanaian man wrote words no husband should ever have to write.
After just 19 months of marriage, he was preparing to say goodbye to Theresa Boakye Dua, the woman he described as his best friend, soulmate and the love of his life.
She was only 31.
She had gone to the Greater Accra Regional Hospital, popularly known as Ridge Hospital, expecting to have a scheduled Caesarean section and return home with her newborn.
Instead, she died.
Her husband says the circumstances surrounding her death have left him devastated and angry. He believes failures in the healthcare system and what he described as negligence and unprofessional conduct contributed to her death.
As he prepared to lay her to rest on Friday, August 28, 2026, he promised that her story would not end at the cemetery.
“The full truth will be told,” he wrote.
For him, this is no longer only about the loss of his wife. It is about ensuring that another husband does not receive the same devastating news.
It is about a mother who should have gone home with her daughter but instead had to mourn her.
It is about a newborn boy who will grow up knowing his mother only through photographs, memories and the stories his family will tell him.
And, increasingly, it is about a question many Ghanaians are asking: Why are women still dying while giving birth in a country where so much is known about how to prevent maternal deaths?
A tragedy that should not be normal
Pregnancy is supposed to end with a new beginning.
Families prepare clothes for the baby. Names are discussed. Rooms are arranged. Mothers count the days until they can finally hold their children.
But for some families in Ghana, childbirth has become a moment of unbearable uncertainty.
A woman can walk into a hospital pregnant, hopeful and looking forward to meeting her baby, only for the family to leave without her or both of them.
That reality is difficult to accept.
And it becomes even harder when the death is believed to have been preventable.
The story of Theresa has triggered anger and sadness on social media, with many people sharing their own experiences of childbirth, Caesarean sections, delays in receiving care and losing loved ones.
Some stories are difficult to read.
Some are stories of mothers who never returned home.
Others are stories of babies who survived but were left without their mothers.
Together, they paint a troubling picture of a maternal health crisis that cannot simply be reduced to statistics.
Behind every maternal death is a name.
A wife.
A daughter.
A sister.
A friend.
A mother.
And a family forced to continue living with an absence that can never be filled.
The numbers tell part of the story.
The Deputy Minister of Health, Dr Grace Ayensu-Danquah, recently described maternal mortality as the worst-performing health indicator among Ghana’s health indices.
She disclosed that Ghana recorded about 945 institutional maternal deaths in 2025.
She has called for a different approach to tackling the problem, stressing that the Ministry of Health cannot solve maternal mortality alone.
One of the concerns she identified is the failure to recognise high-risk pregnancies early enough and refer patients to facilities capable of providing specialised care.
That can mean the difference between life and death.
A pregnant woman who needs urgent attention cannot afford to wait.
A woman losing blood during childbirth cannot afford unnecessary delays.
A mother in distress cannot afford a system where responsibility is passed from one person to another.
Every minute matters.
Is a Caesarean section really safer?
For many expectant mothers, a Caesarean section is viewed as the safer option when complications arise.
Some women even tell friends and relatives that they would rather have a CS than go through normal delivery because they believe it offers greater protection.
But a Caesarean section is still major surgery.
It requires trained professionals, functioning equipment, blood when needed, proper monitoring and quick action when complications occur.
The procedure itself cannot guarantee safety if the healthcare system around it fails.
That is where the conversation must go deeper.
The question should not simply be whether a woman delivered naturally or through a Caesarean section.
The question should be whether she received the right care, at the right time, from the right people.
A woman should not have to die to become a mother
There is something deeply painful about maternal death.
A woman becomes pregnant because she is preparing to bring another human being into the world.
She carries that child for months, endures the physical and emotional demands of pregnancy, and finally arrives at the hospital expecting help.
Her only “crime” is being pregnant.
Yet, for some families, the reward for that journey is a funeral.
That should never become something Ghana accepts as normal.
Young husbands are becoming widowers.
Children are growing up without mothers.
Parents are burying daughters who should have been celebrating their babies.
And families are left asking whether something could have been done differently.
The anger is growing
The reaction to Theresa’s story shows that people are tired.
Many Ghanaians are no longer willing to see maternal deaths as unavoidable tragedies.
They want answers.
They want accountability.
They want hospitals where patients are attended to promptly.
They want health workers who understand that behind every patient is a family anxiously waiting for good news.
They want systems that work even when the hospital is busy.
And above all, they want women to feel safe when they walk into a health facility to give birth.
This is not an attack on every healthcare worker.
Thousands of doctors, nurses, midwives and other health professionals work under difficult conditions every day and save lives.
But good workers cannot compensate for a system that has gaps in supervision, staffing, equipment, emergency response and accountability.
Where failures occur, they must be investigated.
Where negligence is established, there must be consequences.
Where systems are broken, they must be fixed.
Theresa’s son will grow up without his mother
Perhaps the most painful part of Theresa’s story is the child she left behind.
Her husband now has to raise their son without the woman they both expected to have beside them.
The baby’s birthdays will come.
His first day at school will come.
His graduations will come.
There will be moments when he achieves something and instinctively looks for his mother.
But she will not be there.
That is the real cost of maternal mortality.
It does not end when a death certificate is issued.
It follows families for years.
It changes childhoods.
It changes marriages.
It changes futures.
Something has to change
Ghana cannot continue discussing maternal mortality only when another mother dies.
The country needs sustained action: better emergency response, stronger supervision of health facilities, improved referral systems, adequate staffing and equipment, and clear accountability when preventable failures occur.
Expectant mothers must also receive timely information and respectful care throughout pregnancy and childbirth.
Most importantly, maternal deaths must be investigated properly so that lessons are learned and the same mistakes are not repeated.
Theresa’s husband may never get his wife back.
Nothing can erase the pain of losing her at 31.
But perhaps her story can force a difficult conversation.
Perhaps it can push authorities to look more closely at what is happening in our hospitals.
Perhaps it can remind every healthcare worker that the woman lying on the hospital bed is not just another patient.
She is someone’s wife.
Someone’s daughter.
Someone’s sister.
And, very often, she is someone’s entire world.
No woman should have to fear that becoming a mother could cost her life.
Not in Accra.
Not in Kumasi.
Not in Tamale.
Not in any part of Ghana.
Pregnancy should bring hope, not fear.
Childbirth should mark the beginning of a life, not the end of one.
For Theresa, that chance was lost.
For the women who are still waiting to give birth, Ghana must do better.
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