Despite recent economic woes, Nigeria boasts Africa's highest GDP. But it also has one of the highest rates of maternal death. In 2020, about 82,000 Nigerian women died from pregnancy or childbirth-related complications, a "marked increase" from previous decades, said The Guardian.
Nearly 20% of all global maternal deaths happen in Nigeria, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in 2019, second only to India. A Nigerian woman had a one-in-22 lifetime risk of dying during pregnancy, childbirth or complications after an unsafe abortion. In most developed countries, the risk was one in 4,900. Most of Nigeria's maternal deaths are preventable, according to a study published in 2022 in the journal BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth.
The situation in the inflation-battered but most populous African nation is worsening. One factor is the low number of doctors: one per 4,000 to 5,000 patients, rather than the one for every 600 people recommended by the WHO.
Health care makes up 5% of Nigeria's budget this year, while the U.N. suggests at least 14%. "The dire state of health care prompts many medical professionals to emigrate, exacerbating the problems," said The Guardian.
Another issue is access. "Most Nigerians live in areas without well-equipped medical centers" and "have to pay upfront for treatment," which a growing number of people cannot afford.
"The problem of maternal mortality is a reflection of how our society works," a senior maternity consultant at Lagos University Hospital told The Guardian Nigeria. Reducing the rate is "solely within the power" of the country's leaders. "It takes political will to say that our women will not die." | 
