Background : Acute abdominal conditions are a common reason for emergency admission of children. Little is available in the literature about such conditions in our subregion, especially Ghana. Objective : The aim of this study was to investigate the range of emergency abdominal surgical conditions amongst children in the subregion, with particular reference to Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Kumasi, Ghana. A prospective survey of all children older than 1 year undergoing an emergency abdominal surgery was carried out. Methods : Details of all children (except infants) operated for an acute surgical abdominal condition over a 5-year period were entered into a specially designed form, capturing patient characteristics, surgical causes of the emergency, operative procedure, complications, morbidity and mortality rates. Results : Nine hundred fifty-five children aged >1 year but