A costly delay: When bureaucracy threatens women’s lives

It is alarming that essential family planning commodities worth around $500,000 have sat at Ghana’s ports for more than two years.

These are not luxuries, they are life-saving supplies, donated by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to support women and families. Yet, bureaucratic delays have left them to rot while clinics face dwindling stocks.

Out of an initial $2.1 million consignment, 142 containers worth $1.6 million were eventually cleared after public outcry. The remainder, however, remains stuck.

Meanwhile, national and regional medical stores are running low, leaving clinics at risk of running out of contraceptives women rely on. Some products are even nearing expiry.

Family planning is among the most cost-effective tools to reduce maternal mortality. Ghana’s maternal mortality ratio stands at 310 deaths per 100,000 live births.

When women cannot access contraception, unintended pregnancies increase, unsafe abortions rise, and gains in sexual and reproductive health are reversed. Yet, supplies sit idle, while citizens pay the price for administrative failure.

Civil society groups, including the Ghana CSOs Platform on SDGs, have warned that providers are forced to rely on short-term methods, or clients must pay out-of-pocket for long-term options.

This undermines informed choice and quality of care, while creating unnecessary financial burdens for women and families.

The government’s recent directive to the Ministries of Finance and Health to clear the stock is welcome, but directives alone are insufficient.

Immediate clearance and distribution of the remaining supplies must happen.

Contingency measures are also needed to prevent future stock-outs, alongside a review of import classification systems for health commodities and a commitment to domestic financing for family planning.

This is about more than contraceptives. It is about institutional accountability and whether public systems can be trusted to act in citizens’ best interests.

Nearly two years of inaction demonstrates a troubling tolerance for bureaucratic failure, a failure that directly threatens the health and lives of women.

The Ghanaian Times urges Ghanaians to demand action. Every citizen who believes in women’s right to plan their families, and in the right to hold institutions accountable, must speak out.

The remaining supplies must be cleared and distributed without delay. The system must be fixed.

Ghana cannot afford to normalise delays that cost lives. Immediate action is not optional, it is a moral and national imperative.

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