The Country Director of Ipas Nigeria Health Foundation, Lucky Palmer, has identified Nigeria as one of the countries with the highest maternal deaths in the world.
Making the observation on Monday in a press statement issued in Taraba State through the Network of Reproductive Health Journalists-Nigeria, he said, “Nigeria has one of the highest maternal deaths in the world, with 1047 deaths per every 100,000 live births.”
Palmer, who noted that unsafe abortions contributed to over 15 per cent of the maternal deaths, believed that it is time for stakeholders to work collaboratively in directing investments that eliminate entrenched gender disparities and empower women and girls to make decisions that affect them, including sexual and reproductive decisions devoid of coercion.
“It is mind boggling that women continue to bear the brunt of multiple gaps within our society. Gender inequality has reinforced some of the gaps that we see around us, and this is exemplified in some worrisome statistics,” Palmer lamented.
Citing a recent World Economic Report, which ranked Nigeria 122 out of 144 countries on the Gender Gap Index, he noted that “the inherent gaps in these areas reinforce gender inequality even further as women and girls recurrently face barriers that limit their ability to self-determine critical life decisions, including decisions on their sexual reproductive health”.
He added that the situation is worse for women in vulnerable communities and those with, disabilities, adding that “women already living in poverty have higher rates of unintended pregnancies due to livelihood vulnerabilities, are unable to afford contraception, are less educated than their peers, and lack knowledge about or access to sexual and reproductive health”.
