Maternal Mortality refers to death due to complications from pregnancy or childbirth. From the year 2000 to 2020, the Global Maternal Mortality ratio (MMR) declined by 34 percent from 339 deaths to 223 deaths per 100,000 live births, according to UN inter-agency estimates. Nigeria’s MMR has also declined from 814 to 556 per 100,000 live births although this is still far from the goal of less than 140 per 100,000 live births (WHO).
This is widely attributed to the implementation of several innovative interventions by national governments and partners over the last 2 decades. This rate of reduction, however, is not uniformly distributed throughout the world. In Nigeria, about 45,000 maternal deaths still occur and the annual rate of reduction for maternal mortality was less than 4 percent that is necessary to attain the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 target 3.1 reducing global maternal mortality to less than 70 per 100,000 live births by 2030. Unsafe abortion alone accounts for about 10 to 14 percent of maternal morbidity and mortality in Nigeria.
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