Despite being the largest African economy, and one of the war-free countries in Africa, Nigeria had one of the highest maternal mortality rates (MMR) in the world in 2015 standing at 814 deaths/100,000 Live Births (LB) - "besting" only war ravaged countries like Sierra Leon (MMR 1,360 death/100,000 LB), Central African Republic (MMR 882 deaths/100,000 LB) and Chad (MMR 856 deaths/100,000 LB) - CIA World Factbook.

In other words, without wars in these other cited counties, Nigeria would have been the most risky country in the world to experience childbirth.

Surprisingly, other African countries like Republic of Benin, Cameroun, Ghana etc fair much better than our motherland, the giant of Africa.

Even our Senators acknowledged this sad statistics during one of their sessions in February 2017 - ThisDayLive Online February 9, 2017.

According to the WHO (the World Health Organization), Nigerian government has achieved tremendous strides over the years in combating the menace of maternal moratility considering the reduction of MMR from 1,350 deaths/100,000 LB in 1990 to the most recent MMR of 814 deaths/100,000 LB - WHO Mortality in 1990-2015.

Despite the foregoing documented achievements however, we are still far behind in saving our mothers when compared with countries like Finland (MMR 3 deaths/100,000 LB), Austria (MMR 4 deaths/100,000 LB), Canada (MMR 7 deaths/100,00 LB), USA (MMR 14 deaths/100,000 LB), etc according to 2015 statistics - CIA World Factbook.

Etiologies of Maternal Mortality in Nigeria are multifactorial. Please also see Causes of Maternal Mortality in Nigeria - WHO.

Approaches that have been successful at reducing maternal mortality in other countries include, but not limited to:

Mandatory Competency Trainings for ALL Maternity Care Providers
Legislatures to ensure safety of maternity care
Robust legal remedies for victims of maternity care malpractice

Medical Mission In the State of Osun

Save Nigeria Mothers Initiatives

Save Nigeria Mothers Intiatives (SANMINIT), a self-funded non-govermental Organization, will embark on free medical mission in the State of Osun, Nigeria between June 1st to June 10th, 2017.

This medical mission will focus on maternal and neonatal healthcare including:

Capacity building through competency training using Advanced Life Support in Obstetrics (ALSO®) course for Maternity Healthcare providers
Free clinical and surgical treatment of patients
Engaging law and policy makers to sponsor bills and related laws that shall ensure safe maternity care