Akua Dansua was Electoral Assistant at the Electoral Commission of Ghana between 1979 and 1980. From 1983 to 1987 she was the Chief Reporter of the Nigerian Reporter newspaper. She worked with the Weekly Spectator newspaper in Accra, Ghana, as a Journalist, eventually becoming the Features Editor of the paper. She held this position until she moved into politics. She has also served as Technical Advisor to the National Council on Women and Development and as a Media Consultant to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Dansua was born at Hohoe in the Hohoe Municipal District of the Volta Region. Her family hail from Botoku, also in the Volta Region. She started her primary education at the Kadjebi-Akan Local Authority Experimental Primary and Middle School. She then went on to have her secondary education at the Mawuli School at Ho, the capital of the Volta Region. She trained as a Journalist at the Ghana Institute of Journalism in Accra. Dansua was a postgraduate student of Communication Studies at the University of Ghana at Legon, completing in 1990. She also acquired a master's degree in Governance and Leadership from the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration.

Dansua is a member of the National Democratic Congress. She was appointed District Chief Executive for Kpando under the Provisional National Defence Council government of Jerry Rawlings. She first entered parliament in 2001 as the MP for the North Dayi constituency. She is divorced and has three children. She first became a minister of state in 2009 when she was appointed Minister for Women and Children's Affairs. She became the first Female Minister for Youth and Sports after a cabinet reshuffle in January 2010 and Minister for Tourism on 4 January 2011. In January 2011, she was appointed Minister for Tourism, replacing Zita Okaikoi. She is currently the Ambassador of Ghana to Germany.