Question

What factors contribute to high maternal mortalities rates in Nigeria than any other country?

Answer 1

What factors contribute to high maternal mortalities rates in Nigeria than any other country?

Introduction

Women die as a result of complications during and following pregnancy and childbirth. Most of these complications develop during pregnancy and most are preventable or treatable. The maternal mortality ratio (MMR) is defined as the number of maternal deaths during a given time period per 100,000 live births during the same time period. It depicts the risk of maternal death relative to the number of live births and essentially captures the risk of death in a single pregnancy or a single live birth. In the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), countries have united behind a new target to accelerate the decline of maternal mortality by 2030. SDG 3 includes an ambitious target: “reducing the global MMR to less than 70 per 100 000 births, with no country having a maternal mortality rate of more than twice the global average”. According. to World Health Organization every day in 2017, approximately 810 women died from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth and 94% of all maternal deaths occur in low and lower middle-income countries. Sub-Saharan Africa alone accounted for roughly two-thirds (1,96000) of maternal deaths. Nigeria is the country where nearly 20% of all global maternal deaths happen.

Maternal mortality in Nigeria

Nigeria ranks second globally in the number of maternal deaths. According to WHO estimates, between 2005 and 2015, over 600000 maternal deaths and no less than 900000 maternal near-miss cases occurred in the country. In 2015, Nigeria’s estimated maternal mortality ratio was over 800 maternal deaths per 1,00000 live births, with approximately 58,000 maternal deaths during that year. By comparison, the total number of maternal deaths in 2015 in the 46 most developed countries was 1700, resulting in a maternal mortality ratio of 12 maternal deaths per 1,00000 live births. In fact, a Nigerian woman has a 1 in 22 lifetime risk of dying during pregnancy, childbirth or postpartum/post-abortion; whereas in the most developed countries, the lifetime risk is 1 in 4900.

Factors Contributing to the high Maternal Mortality in Nigeria than any other countries

The World Health Organizatoin (WHO) says the high number of maternal deaths in some parts of the world reflects inequities in access to health services, and highlights the gap between rich and poor. Nearly 100% of global maternal deaths occur in developing countries with more than half of these deaths occurring in sub-Saharan Africa. The Nigeria Near-Miss and Maternal Death Survey revealed that intra-hospital quality of care issues, and delays in accessing the adequate level of care play a major part in the occurrence of maternal deaths.

The causes of Maternal Mortality Rate in Nigeria are obstetric hemorrhage, eclampsia, sepsis and complications from unsafe abortions. Similarly, studies show that factors such as age, education, antenatal care, parity, and domestic violence are associated with Maternal Mortality in Nigeria.

The contributing factors are,

1. Inequities to health services, gaps between rich and poor .

Poor women in remote areas are the least likely to receive adequate health care. This is especially true for regions with low numbers of skilled health workers.

2.Poverty

Poverty is widespread in this country in spite of its rich natural resources to the extent that indicators place it among the twenty poorest countries in the world.

3. Inadequate human resource for health

Majority of births in Nigeria (66 percent) occur at home [and only one-third of live births during the five years preceding the most recent demographic health survey occurred in a health facility. There are shortfalls of TB

5. Inadequate equipment

The Nigerian health system as a whole has been plagued by problems of service quality, including unfriendly staff attitudes to patients, inadequate skills, decaying infrastructures, chronic shortages of essential drugs and the well-known "out-of-stock: syndrome"

6. Lack of ambulance transportation, and delay in referrals services

7.Lack of awareness

Lack of knowledge regarding family planing and safe delivery practices are more in Nigerian woman.

Conclusion

Nigeria's effort to reduce MMR relies in the improvement of emergency obstetric care in secondary care facilities, public health education so that women can seek appropriate and immediate evidence-based pregnancy care, and the socioeconomic empowerment of women. Through these strategies Nigerian Maternal Mortality Rates will be reduced in an effective manner.

References

1.Trends in maternal mortality: 2000 to 2017: estimates by WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, World Bank Group and the United Nations Population Division. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2019.

2. Matthew O, Adeniji A, Osabohien R, Olawande T, Atolagbe T. Gender inequality, maternal mortality and inclusive growth in Nigeria. Social Indicators Research. 2020 Feb;147(3):763-80.

3. Akinlo, Ambrose, Erhabor Sunday Idemudia, Peter Olasupo Ogunjuyigbe, and Bola Lukman Solanke. "Women's empowerment status and exposure to maternal mortality risks in Nigeria." Gender and Behaviour 14, no. 1 (2016): 7085-7099.