Household cost of treating pregnancy-related complications in an urban setting: a study at the Korle Bu teaching hospital, Ghana

BACKGROUND: Thousands of women die annually from preventable pregnancy-related complications. The high cost of treating complications in pregnancy remains a significant setback to improving maternal health and averting maternal mortality. Efforts by the government of Ghana to improve access to skilled maternal health care led to the provision of free maternal health care under the National Health Insurance Scheme in 2012. However, household costs associated with pregnancy-related conditions is not well researched in Ghana. Therefore, this paper estimated the cost of treating pregnancy-related complications in Ghanaian households. METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional design was employed to estimate the household cost of treating pregnancy complications (PRCs) at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH). A systematic sampling technique was adopted to sample 102 pregnant women who received treatment for pregnancy-related complications between March and November 2022. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from respondents. Data analysis was done using Microsoft Excel version 16 and STATA, 16. Sensitivity analysis was conducted by varying the cost of drugs at 9% and productivity loss due to absenteeism at the daily minimum wage. RESULTS: The average cost of treating PRC was estimated at GHS 2,003.95 (US$265.07). The direct cost of treating PRCs accounts for 77.7%, while the indirect cost accounts for 22.2% of the total economic cost. The main drivers of the direct and indirect costs were the cost of feeding GHS 106,159.00 ($14,042.20) (41.7%) and productivity loss due to absenteeism at GHS57,906.34 ($7,659.57) (22.2%), respectively. CONCLUSION: The household cost of treating PRCs at the KBTH was very high, and policies and programs are required to support families to ease the economic burden on them.