WaterAid’s “Time to Deliver”: Campaign Urges Immediate Action for Water in Ghana’s Health Facilities
WaterAid’s "Time to Deliver": Campaign Urges Immediate Action for Water in Ghana’s Health Facilities
WaterAid Ghana, an International Non-Governmental Organisation (INGO) in collaboration with its partners have launched a nationwide movement to address a silent crisis in Ghana’s healthcare system: the lack of clean water in delivery rooms and clinics.
The “Time to Deliver” campaign, a strategic advocacy initiative calling for urgent investment in Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) services.
The campaign specifically targets a critical gap in maternal health, highlighting that currently, 45% of healthcare facilities in Ghana operate without basic access to clean water.
A Crisis for Mothers and Newborns
The urgency of the Time to Deliver petition is underscored by harrowing statistics released during the campaign launch in Accra, Bongo and other parts of the globe.
Data available shows that every two seconds, a woman gives birth in a facility lacking clean water, leading to more than one million preventable deaths of mothers and newborns globally each year due to infections.
In Ghana, the disparity is sharp: a woman in the Upper East Region is eight times less likely to give birth in a facility with running water compared to one in the Greater Accra Region.
Policy and Financing Demands
The campaign is not merely a call for awareness but a demand for funded, measurable action from the government.
Advocates are pushing for:
National Accountability: Ensuring the government honors the Ghana Presidential WASH Compact, which commits to an annual investment of US$1.7 billion to achieve SDG 6 by 2030.
Budget Prioritization: Calling on the Ministry of Finance to include dedicated WASH funding in the 2026 economic policy to improve Infection, Prevention, and Control (IPC) in health centers.
Gender-Responsive Investment: Placing women and midwives at the center of infrastructure planning, as midwives are currently forced to deliver babies without the ability to wash their hands or clean wards properly.
The public is encouraged to add their names to the global petition to hold decision-makers accountable ahead of major international water summits later this year.
“Sign the ‘Time to Deliver campaign’ petition to make access to clean water in all healthcare facilities a reality.”
For every mother should be able to bring her baby into the world somewhere with clean water. Every baby should be able to start their life somewhere safe.
