Ghana has launched the Presidential Initiative on Maternal Health and Emergency Response (PRIMER) as part of efforts to accelerate progress in reducing maternal deaths and improve emergency care for pregnant women.

Launching the initiative, Vice President Prof. Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang called for sustained action to protect the lives, safety and dignity of women before, during and after pregnancy.

She said PRIMER was developed in response to concerns over the country’s insufficient progress in reducing maternal deaths, through collaboration between the Presidency, the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), the health sector and development partners.

The Vice President called for ownership of the initiative at national, regional and district levels, as well as among families, communities, traditional and religious leaders, civil society and the private sector.

She stressed that its success would depend on translating commitments into budgets, implementation and measurable results.

Senior Presidential Advisor on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Dr Nii Moi Thompson, said PRIMER focuses on policy and governance, institutional accountability, sustainable financing and multisectoral coordination.

He said existing maternal health interventions within the health sector had been integrated into the initiative to strengthen clinical and operational care without creating parallel structures.

Dr Thompson also identified weaknesses in the referral system and challenges in the early identification of high-risk pregnant women at the primary healthcare level.

Deputy Minister of Health and Chair of the PRIMER Multisectoral Technical Working Group, Grace Ayensu Danquah, said increasing the number of women accessing formal healthcare was not sufficient if mothers and their babies could not return home safely.

She called for effective coordination among transport services, communication systems, healthcare teams and emergency response mechanisms to improve maternal survival.

The Director-General of the NDPC, Dr Audrey Smock Amoah, said the Commission would prioritise maternal health in national policies, plans and budgets in line with the Medium-Term National Development Policy Framework and the SDGs.

She said the NDPC would support the use of measurable indicators and targets, timely reporting and regular reviews at national and sub-national levels to ensure that PRIMER translates commitments into implementation and accountability.