111 Women Die Daily From Pregnancy Issues In Nigeria – Pathfinder

In order to prevent the ratio of 576 per 100,000 women in Nigeria from dying yearly in relation to pregnancy, Dr. Habeeb Salami of Pathfinder International has urged women to embrace family planning to stay alive.

Salami made this known in Lagos at a media stakeholders engagement, noting that the alarming figure of 111 women dying daily from pregnancy related issues such as; hemorrhage, hypertension, infection, abortion complications and obstructed labour is not acceptable.

Worried by the maternal mortality rate in Nigeria, he added that investment in family planning will reduce the ratio of 576 by 30 percent, stating that “pregnancy and child birth are natural process that should not take any life. That is why family planning is important. It gives the woman time to rest properly from child birth before the next pregnancy”.

He however said that in order for Nigeria to meet the target of 27 percent of Modern Contraceptive Prevalent Rate (MCPR), by 2020, the Federal government will have to work with the state and local government to secure complimentary budgets for family planning and reproductive health service delivery.

Salami advised that further partnership the Federal government can make to improve the lives of women of reproductive age is with private sector, civil society, traditional and religious institutions as well as development partners.

He urged the media to influence and make political policy, legal and community environments more suitable for family planning.

Giving an insight on the advocacy work carried out in Lagos State, Mr Chibuike Amaechi of Public Health Sustainable Advocacy Initiative (PHSAI), said that the organisation’s aim is to increase access to family planning services and commodities in public as well as private hospitals in the state.

He said, “since these consumables are not supplied by the state government, women who seek family planning commodities are being asked to pay for consumables before the commodities will be administered and as a result, most of them go home and don’t return to the hospital.”