Zainab Abioye
The Federal Government has disclosed that just 172 local government areas across 33 states are responsible for 55 per cent of maternal deaths recorded in Nigeria, despite accounting for only about one-fifth of the country’s 774 local government areas.
The Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Iziaq Salako, disclosed this in Abuja during the national flag-off of incentives aimed at increasing the utilisation of maternal and newborn healthcare services under the Maternal and Neonatal Mortality Reduction Innovation Initiative (MAMII).
Salako said the concentration of maternal deaths in the 172 LGAs informed the Federal Government’s decision to specifically target them with interventions designed to improve access to timely and quality maternal and newborn care.
According to him, MAMII, launched in November 2024, is targeting a 30 per cent reduction in maternal mortality and a 20 per cent reduction in neonatal mortality by 2028 in the selected LGAs.
The initiative, he added, is expected to provide free, timely and comprehensive maternal healthcare to approximately 2.9 million pregnant women in the targeted communities.
The minister said the government’s strategy was informed by the need to move beyond general interventions and concentrate resources on communities where women and newborns face the greatest risks.
He disclosed that more than 32,000 women and 1,700 newborns had already benefited directly from emergency obstetric and neonatal care through the programme.
Salako further revealed that nearly 79,000 beneficiaries, about 60 per cent of whom were pregnant women, had been transported to healthcare facilities through the National Emergency Medical Treatment and Ambulance System.
He said the interventions were already producing measurable improvements in maternal healthcare utilisation, noting that attendance for the fourth antenatal care visit had increased by 20 per cent in one quarter in LGAs implementing MAMII.
According to him, the latest intervention is designed to reinforce behaviours and healthcare practices capable of preventing avoidable maternal and newborn deaths.
These include early registration for antenatal care, delivery in health facilities and proper postnatal follow-up.
Salako stressed the importance of ensuring that pregnant women do not only have access to healthcare facilities but also receive timely and appropriate care when complications arise.
The Federal Government’s disclosure underscores the uneven distribution of Nigeria’s maternal health burden, with a relatively small proportion of local government areas accounting for more than half of maternal deaths nationwide.
The government is therefore expected to sustain targeted interventions in the identified high-burden communities while strengthening emergency referral systems, antenatal services, skilled birth attendance and postnatal care.
The success of the initiative, however, will ultimately depend on sustained funding, functional primary healthcare facilities, availability of skilled health workers, essential medicines and equipment, as well as reliable transportation for women experiencing obstetric emergencies.
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