Conference Abstract | Volume 9, Abstract 051 (ConfProc7) | Published: 30 Jun 2026
Faiza Alhassan1,&, Felecia Alemna1, Charity Azantilow2 , Ernest Kenu1
1Ghana Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program, School of Public Health, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana, 2Municipal Health Directorate Savelugu, Northern Region
&Corresponding author: Faiza Alhassan, Ghana Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program, School of Public Health, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana, Email: alhassan.faizatu@gmail.com
Received: 29 Aug 2025, Accepted: 28 Oct 2025, Published: 30 Jun 2026
Domain: Maternal and Child Health
Keywords: Maternal mortality, Surveillance system, Evaluation, Ghana, Savelugu
©Faiza Alhassan et al. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health (ISSN: 2664-2824). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Cite this article: Faiza Alhassan et al. Evaluation of maternal death surveillance system in Savelugu Municipality, Northern Region, Ghana, 2020–2024. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health. 2026;9(ConfProc7):051. https://doi.org/10.37432/JIEPH-CONFPRO7-0051
Maternal mortality remains a major public health concern in Ghana, with a national ratio of 308 per 100,000 live births in 2022, far above the global target of fewer than 70 per 100,000 by 2030. In response, Ghana strengthened implementation of the WHO’s (2021) Maternal Death Surveillance and Response (MDSR) strategy to improve data-driven interventions and eliminate preventable maternal deaths. This study evaluated the performance of the MDSR system in Savelugu Municipality, focusing on its attributes and contributing to improvements in maternal health through targeted public health actions.
A descriptive cross-sectional evaluation was conducted using the updated CDC guidelines for surveillance system assessment. Data were collected between March and April 2025 at the Savelugu Municipality, through key informant interviews with doctors, physician assistants, midwives, nurses, and health information officers, as well as record reviews and facility assessments across five health facilities (one hospital and four health centres). The review covered data from January 2020 to December 2024. System attributes assessed included usefulness, simplicity, stability, acceptability, representativeness, data quality, timeliness, sensitivity, and flexibility, rated as weak (<60%), moderate (60–79%), or good (≥80%).
From 2020–2024, 16 maternal deaths occurred among 18,623 live births (average ratio: 9 per 10,000), highest in 2020 (14 per 10,000). Postpartum hemorrhage (43.8%) and eclampsia (18.8%) were leading causes, with half of the deaths among women aged ≥35 years. The system performed well in timeliness, sensitivity, data quality, acceptability, and representativeness (≥80%), moderate in flexibility (66.7%), and weak in simplicity (50%) and stability (56.7%).
The MDSR system is useful, informing actions such as establishing a triage unit, forming audit committees, and retraining midwives. To improve performance, the GHS should train community health volunteers within the Municipality to strengthen surveillance toward ending preventable maternal mortality.
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