By Tabora Bojang
Health Minister Dr Ahmadou Lamin Samateh has revealed that 58 maternal deaths were recorded across public health facilities from January to September 2025.
Responding to a clarification sought by Sannementereng NAM Fatou Cham about the number of maternal deaths registered in public health facilities in the past months, Dr Samateh said “this figures translates to 112 deaths per 100,000 live births.”
According to him, the figure also marked a sharp decrease from 289 deaths per 100,000 live births illustrated in the 2019-2020 demographic health survey report.
He disclosed that the 58 deaths recorded were mainly caused by hemorrhage and pregnancy induced hypertension.
“The other contributing factors include late antenatal booking and poor attendance of antenatal clinics and lack of compliance.”
Actions taken
Commenting on actions taken to address the issue, Minister Samateh said his ministry is taking urgent systematic actions to address maternal mortality including audit of each mortality to know the preventable causes, training of 74 new midwives, community engagement to improve health literacy and awareness creation to ensure early booking and compliance in antenatal care, advice, expansion and renovation of health facilities.
