A coalition, Maternal and Child Health, Civil Society (MCH-CS) partnership has expressed worry over Nigeria’s slow pace to achieving MDGs 4, issues relating to women, especially maternal health.
Speaking at a press conference to mark this year’s International Women’s Day, Chairperson, (MCH-CS) partnership, Mrs. Dorcas Adeyemi, lamented that maternal death remained high despite efforts made to curtail it.
She said: “Nigeria ranks 9th worst in the world with 630 per 100,000 from 10 years data collected from 1990-2010. According to World Bank data, Nigeria is ranked amongst the countries where pregnancy is unsafe to carry.
“While there is increase in participation of women in governance, it is however worrisome that the rate of violence against women is still high in Nigeria, when many African countries are leaving no stone unturned in their quest to address it.
“So also the issue of maternal deaths which can be avoided if the right actions are taken – it only requires the right political will.
“The MDGs which Nigeria is a signatory to is coming to an end with our country lagging behind on issues which directly borders on the life and survival of the woman.
“In April 2001, Nigeria hosted Heads of State of African Union countries in Abuja where they pledged to commit at least 15 per cent of their annual budget to improve the health sector. Nigeria is far from achieving that goal.
“Nigeria’s budget in 2013 was 5.6 per cent; this figure is 9.4 per cent less than the recommended rate agreed upon during the Abuja Declaration hosted on Nigeria’s soil.”
She continued when she sighted instance with the case of Kaduna state where the health sector is suffering, especially the maternal health is receiving inadequate funding.
“According to the 2008 Nigeria Demographic Health Survey (NDHS), many of the indicators assessing the strength of maternal and child health care in Kaduna are weak. For instance, only 18.4 per cent of pregnant women delivered in a health care facility while 79.9 per cent delivered at home, 21.8 per cent of live births were delivered by a skilled provider, and 54.5 per cent did not receive any postnatal care.
“We, therefore, recommend that the state needs to prioritise the passing of legislation on the Free Maternal and Child Health in order to establish formal mechanisms between the different health system actors.”
