← All reports Femtech ecosystem report

Women's health innovation, Ghana

🇬🇭

Ghana

Ghana's women's health innovation ecosystem centers on maternal and newborn health, menstrual health, and reproductive health, anchored by Accra's broader health-tech scene and pan-African players like mPharma. Government has become an active driver, launching a free sanitary pad initiative for around 2 million schoolgirls in 2025 and running a Ghana Health Service Country Innovation Platform that funds maternal and newborn health innovations. Femtech-specific venture funding remains thin, with most capital arriving through global grant programs, gender-lens funds that also cover Ghana, and development partners rather than pure femtech rounds.

Maternal and newborn healthMenstrual health and hygieneCervical cancer and reproductive healthDigital health and telemedicineGender-lens investment
GHS 292.4M

2025 budget allocated for free sanitary pads in schools ges.gov.gh

~2 million

Schoolgirls targeted by Ghana's free sanitary pad initiative modernghana.com

under 5%

Eligible Ghanaian women ever screened for cervical cancer pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

~35% tax

Combined import duty, VAT and levies on sanitary products (luxury classification) pulse.com.gh

01 of 07

Latest major news

Recent headlines are dominated by the free pad rollout, mPharma's expansion, and maternal health innovation launches.

02 of 07

Policy & strategy

Ghana's femtech-relevant policy sits across reproductive health strategy, digital health frameworks, and the new menstrual health commitment.

03 of 07

Latest ecosystem moves

Innovation platforms, accelerators, and cervical cancer campaigns are shaping where women's health tech grows in Ghana.

04 of 07

Notable funding rounds

Pure femtech rounds are rare; most capital flows through grants, gender-lens funds, and health-system programs that include women's health.

05 of 07

Key players & hubs

A mix of pan-African health companies, government platforms, accelerators and NGOs makes up Ghana's women's health innovation base.

06 of 07

Active investors

Ghana's women's health capital comes mainly from gender-lens funds, development finance, and global grant programs that include Ghana.

07 of 07

White papers & reports

Research and mapping on Ghana's menstrual, reproductive, and digital health environment.

Latest major news

2025-04
President Mahama launches the Free Sanitary Pad Initiative for roughly 2 million schoolgirls across all 261 districts, distributing over 6 million pads.
ges.gov.gh
2025-11
Growth Investment Partners (GIP), backed by British International Investment, invests in mPharma Ghana to expand affordable healthcare, including women's health services, across West Africa.
citinewsroom.com
2024-11
Ghana Health Service, USAID, Grand Challenges Canada and AMP Health launch 10 maternal and newborn health innovations across six priority regions under the Country Innovation Platform.
gna.org.gh
2025-05
Advocacy groups and the Ghana News Agency flag implementation gaps in the free pad initiative, and the Education Minister later orders a quality audit of procured pads.
newsghana.com.gh
2025-01
Project HOPE, with USAID Ghana and Ghana Health Service, launches a five-year, USD 45M Integrated Health Partnership to improve maternal, neonatal and child health.
projecthope.org
2025-10
Dada Foundation-Ghana launches a GHS 5 million maternity block project to expand maternal care infrastructure.
gna.org.gh

Policy & strategy

2025-04
GHS 292.4M allocated in the 2025 budget for free sanitary pads, marking government's first major menstrual health financing commitment.
ges.gov.gh
2023-01
National Policy and Strategy on Digital Health (2023-2027) sets frameworks to integrate telemedicine and scale digital health solutions nationally.
medium.com
2020-01
RMNCAHN Strategic Plan (2020-2025) targets adolescent and youth-friendly services and higher contraception use among sexually active adolescents.
reproductive-health-journal.biomedcentral.com
2024-07
Advocates continue pressing to remove the roughly 35% combined tax classifying sanitary products as luxury goods.
pulse.com.gh

Latest ecosystem moves

â–¸Ghana Health Service Country Innovation Platform surfaces maternal-health tools like Maame-Dromo, M'enaApp and ENCOMPAS (AI for pregnancy and newborn care). grandchallenges.ca
â–¸mPharma runs a 10,000 Women Initiative offering free cervical cancer screening with HPV DNA testing (6,000 women in Ghana). pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
â–¸Ghana Tech Lab runs a health-tech incubation track requiring at least one woman in startup leadership, with 12 months of support. salientadvisory.com
â–¸A wristband triage system (red/yellow/green) is scaling to improve maternal care escalation in Ghanaian facilities. grandchallenges.ca
â–¸Ghanaian startups collectively raised over USD 120M in 2025 across fintech, agritech, healthtech and edtech, signaling a deepening capital base. jbklutse.com

Notable funding rounds

Disclosed round size (USD)

mPharma Ghana undisclosed
Strategic investment · 2025-11 · Growth Investment Partners (BII-backed) citinewsroom.com
Country Innovation Platform (10 maternal/newborn innovations) CAD 250K each
Grant · 2024-11 · Grand Challenges Canada grandchallenges.ca
Integrated Health Partnership (Project HOPE) USD 45M
Program grant · 2025-01 · USAID Ghana projecthope.org
Free Sanitary Pad Initiative GHS 292.4M
Government budget · 2025-04 · Government of Ghana ges.gov.gh
Dada Foundation-Ghana maternity block GHS 5M
Grant/CSR · 2025-10 · Dada Foundation-Ghana gna.org.gh
Redbird Health Tech USD 1.5M
Seed · 2021-03 · Johnson & Johnson Foundation, Newtown Partners ventureburn.com

Rounds by type

6 rounds
Strategic investment1
Grant1
Program grant1
Government budget1
Grant/CSR1
Seed1

Key players & hubs

Ecosystem by organisation type

12 orgs
Hub4
NGO4
Startup2
Govt2
mPharma
Startup

Accra-headquartered health company running cervical cancer screening and women's health programs across Africa gh.linkedin.com

Ghana Health Service Country Innovation Platform
Govt

Government platform funding and scaling maternal and newborn health innovations gna.org.gh

Ghana Tech Lab
Hub

Incubator with a health-tech track requiring women in startup leadership ghanatechlab.com

MEST Africa
Hub

Accra pan-African incubator and seed fund; alumni have raised ~USD 140M cumulatively vc4a.com

Kosmos Innovation Center
Hub

Kumasi-based incubator providing seed funding and mentorship to entrepreneurs starterstory.com

Innohub
Hub

SME accelerator supporting scalable Ghanaian businesses starterstory.com

UNICEF Ghana Startup Lab
NGO

Supports youth and social-impact ventures including health innovations unicef.org

Project HOPE Ghana
NGO

Runs USD 45M USAID-funded maternal, neonatal and child health program projecthope.org

AMP Health
NGO

Partner in Ghana's Country Innovation Platform for maternal/newborn health amphealth.org

Kybele
NGO

Developed Obstetric Triage Implementation Package; won 2024 GHS Excellence Award grandchallenges.ca

Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection
Govt

Co-leads the free sanitary pad and menstrual health agenda mogcsp.gov.gh

Redbird Health Tech
Startup

Accra diagnostics startup (foundational healthtech; ceased operations 2022) cbinsights.com

Active investors

Active investors by headquarters

USA 3
Ghana 1
UK 1
Nigeria 1
Nigeria / South Africa 1
Canada 1
Global 1
Growth Investment Partners (GIP)
BII-backed platform investing in mPharma Ghana's healthcare expansion citinewsroom.com
Ghana
British International Investment (BII)
Backs GIP and gender-lens funds active in Ghana impact-investor.com
UK
Aruwa Capital Management
Gender-lens fund investing in women-focused essential goods and services in Nigeria and Ghana impact-investor.com
Nigeria
Alitheia IDF
USD 100M gender-lens PE fund investing across six African countries including Ghana eib.org
Nigeria / South Africa
Grand Challenges Canada
Grants CAD 250K each to Ghana maternal and newborn health innovations grandchallenges.ca
Canada
USAID
Funds Country Innovation Platform and USD 45M Integrated Health Partnership projecthope.org
USA
UNICEF Office of Innovation (Femtech Ventures)
Equity-free femtech capital open to African founders including Ghana unicef.org
Global
Johnson & Johnson Foundation
Backed Ghanaian healthtech (Redbird) seed round ventureburn.com
USA
Gates Foundation
USD 2.5B women's health R&D commitment relevant to African innovators gatesfoundation.org
USA

White papers & reports

â–¸The red thread: stakeholder perspectives on menstrual health and hygiene in Ghana (PMC) pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
â–¸Identifying priority adolescent sexual and reproductive health interventions in Ghana (Reproductive Health journal, 2025) reproductive-health-journal.biomedcentral.com
â–¸Implementation of digital health innovations in Ghana: a systematic review (Springer, 2026) link.springer.com
â–¸Femtech (2): Mapping out Femtech Solutions in Africa (Jaza Rift) jazarift.com

Sources and references

Every figure and claim above links back to a public source. 15 references, updated 2026-08.