Maternal Mortality: An Alarming Reality In Nigeria -By Afunwa Chimdimma Esther

Have you never heard of this alarming reality in this developing country called Nigeria? Where health is not treated with respect and lives are nothing but buyable entities, even our mothers who give us the opportunity to live are being wasted on the negligence of a few who does not understand the pain of motherhood, it’s difficulty and it’s risks; what are we to do with a country like this?

Coming on to the causes of pregnancy related deaths; maternal mortality can be caused by postpartum hemorrhage, pre-eclampsia and hypertensive disorders. Lack of skilled medical personnel as earlier stated also comes high up on the list of causes because the absence of qualified doctors, nurses or midwives can impede quick delivery of obstetric services in a sector where prompt access to these services is a crucial factor in the safety of mother and child. Obstructed labor and complications from unsafe abortions play their roles too in causing maternal deaths. Many countries, especially in the maternal mortality prone regions, unfortunately have laws which make abortion illegal, or restrictively strict rules regulating its practice; this has a cobra effect in combating maternal mortality as it limits the access of ordinary folk to these services (which will either be expensive or dangerous where it is affordable due to the operation being practiced by untrained personnel). It eliminates the option of a safe abortion in the unfortunate event of fatal complications arising in the course of pregnancy. It’s unfortunate that the rural areas are left unattended to and women are left in the hands of quacks and midwives, not overlooking the terror of those women who are delivered of their babies themselves without help.

Ehinare, The Health Minister says “The cases of maternal mortality can be attributed to not being able to reach the hospital. If you add those ones who reached the hospital and are not attended to because of deposit, they are going to be between 30 to 40 per cent”. “Nigeria has about 512 maternal mortalities per 100,000 births now. That’s about the worst in the world.”
That five of 1000 Nigerian women die while delivering their babies is frightening. Latest statistics from the World Health Organization (WHO) also revealed that Nigeria accounts for over 34 per cent of global maternal deaths while the lifetime risk of dying during pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum, or after an abortion for a Nigerian woman is one in 22, compared to one in 4900 in developed countries. This kind of statistics is a scare to future “mothers-to-be”, and what is the country doing about it currently? I leave the answer to you.

The laziness and nonchalant attitude of our supposed leaders prompts me to ask, “ what if all mothers are gone, due to death during childbirth, who would nurture the children that survive and the families that are left motherless?”, many of these leaders do not understand this alarming situation as their wives do not give birth in the country but are taken to better treatment abroad, leaving us, citizens to our own misfortune.

Where do we move from here? We have made petitions for better health care and other necessities but what do get? Nothing tangible, only promises. Our mothers are going through a lot of pain and labor, first during pregnancy and then delivery, there is no assurance that her battles are being taken care of, instead the war continues. We cry for the future of our girls who would become ladies and wives then mothers, that we may not be afraid of maternity because the country has made it risky. Is the government aware of us, or all they do is to generate population census letting us know that we are becoming larger than life in our spacious boundary?

Surprisingly, for those who have access to ante-natal treatment and hospitals, they are still left at owner’s risk, why? They are not financially buoyant. Many women are left unattended to until they make deposits to the hospital, which is sometimes delayed, thereby leaving them to go through their mountain alone. What about those women who are abandoned in the hospital by their husbands due to lack of funds, what are they to do? They eventually begin to hope on the same government who should make provisions for pregnant women and ante-natal treatment availability without cost, to come in during special days of the year to bail them from their medical prison.

Well, let’s think a way out then. The government should take up the responsibility of making sure that women are being taken care of because they are the nurturers of the next generation. The government hospitals should be more active in taking care of the women brought in for delivery. Many government hospitals operate a free maternal delivery but are nonchalant when these women come in to be delivered of their babies.

For those in rural areas, the government should make deliberate effort to provide ante-natal and delivery clinic fully equipped with the needed facilities for health care and delivery, those in the secluded areas should be looked upon with a sense of belonging. The death rate can also be avoided when there is a healthy environment for these women during ante-natal and post-natal. The new mothers should not be neglected after delivery but taken care of during immunization also.

The life of a mother is no easy task as both the father and children are dependent on her care. Many should understand that these women especially new mothers are not completely prepared for the life ahead, so there should be extra effort in preparing medically for them.

The children born needs their love and nurturing, something no one else can do completely if these mothers are gone. I wish Africa stands up to take care of our mothers and intending mothers medically for the sake of the generation to come and that this alarming reality is brought to book. Africa rise, our women cry.

AFUNWA. C ESTHER,
A LAW STUDENT OF DELTA STATE UNIVERSITY, OLEH CAMPUS.