In northern Ghana's Upper East Region, the road to giving birth can be treacherous. Women in labour have to cross rivers by canoe to give birth, or walk for hours along flooded clay paths, doubled over with contractions, clutching plastic bags filled with baby clothes and sanitary pads. Sometimes they ride bicycles because no motorbike can get through the mud and often they do not make it to the clinic at all.
Dorcas Azongo, 29, gave birth to her twins after crossing two rivers at night while in labour, riding part of the way on her husband's motorcycle. She says: "When we reached the [first] river, it was difficult to cross because during the rainy season it is always full... I was in too much pain to speak". She could not sit probably on the motorcycle for the same reason.
