The Borno State Commissioner for Health and Human Services, Prof. Baba Mallam, has identified indecision by most families as the major reason for the death of women during childbirth in the country.
Mallam stated this on Monday, when he received a donation of two tricycle (keke) ambulances from an international Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Doctors Without Borders, in Maiduguri, the state capital.
He said that available statistics show that 120 Nigerian women die hourly due to delivery-related complications.
According to him, Nigeria is only better than Southern Sudan and Chad in the world, in terms of maternal mortality.
He said: There are many reasons Nigerian women are dying at the point of labour. The indecision by the family of the pregnant women during labour has been a major cause of women’s death.
“The indecision comes in because the pregnant women are surrounded by families. They tell them, no you can do it. Give it a push and for one hour, two hours, three hours, four hours, after the woman is exhausted they now say you can go to hospital and there is a problem of transportation, she doesn’t have a car and their neighbours do not have a vehicle and, therefore, this adds to the quagmire.
“Nigeria contributes 28.9 per cent of maternal deaths in the world. It is important for Nigerians to realise this.
“Despite the fact that Nigeria’s economy is one of the best in Africa, our medical indices are very poor.
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“We are 200 million now and by 2050 we will be more than 400 million and that will make Nigeria the third largest country, in terms of population after India and China.
“You can imagine how many pregnant women will be dying. At the moment, every two minutes, the country loses a woman during delivery in Nigeria.
“So, if we spent 10 minutes here, 20 women would have died. So, it is very important we realise this as Nigerians and take everything necessary to mitigate this carnage on young women.
“And that also includes newborns because they also suffer from simple basic problems. As I speak here, children are dying from a blockage of airway to breathing and Nigeria is number three or four in the world, in terms of death of newborns.”
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