Draft:Maternal health in Nigeria

Nigeria is a country where almost 20% of all global maternal deaths occur. According to World Health Organization (WHO), it is estimated that over 600 000 maternal deaths and no less than 900 000 maternal near-miss cases occurred in Nigeria between 2005 and 2015.

Maternal mortality

Maternal mortality is the death of a woman during pregnancy or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, regardless of the time and site of the pregnancy, from any cause related to or worsen by the management of the pregnancy but not caused by accident or incidence. Despite lots of efforts by stakeholders, Nigeria has the highest rates of maternal mortality Ratio (MMR) (512 deaths per 100,000 live births) in the world.

Despite Nigeria being the largest economy in Africa, Nigeria also loses more women to death in childbirth than other countries in the world. According to 2020 statistics, about 82,000 Nigerian women died due to pregnancy-related complications, this shows a slight improvement on the previous year. The problem of maternal mortality is a reflection of how our society works. This problem will not go away until the standard of life increases. The reduction of maternal mortality is solely within the power of our leaders. The problem is too numerous for doctors alone to handle.

Factors contributing to maternal mortality

The major reasons for maternal deaths in Nigeria include post-partum haemorrhage (bleeding after child birth), unsafe abortions, pre-eclampsia, eclampsia, obstructed labour and other complications from from delivery and infections following childbirth, among others.

Other factors associated with maternal mortality include low health-seeking behaviour, poor emergency obstetric services, harmful traditional practices, high out-of-pocket expenditure on health care and poor transportation.