A personal narrative of a woman's life in Ghana

Ashanti’s life begins in her family hut. But, as only 25 per cent of the Ghanaian population consults a doctor, her mother dies a few hours after delivery. The traditional midwife is not able to stop the haemorrhaging. Her mother joins the hundreds of women who die in childbirth every year – the maternal mortality rate in Ghana is 200 women per 100,000. Ashanti is underweight, born below 2kg. The under-five mortality rate is 111 per thousand live births.