By Basil Obasi, Abuja
A report presented yesterday, in Abuja, by Chairman of the Association for the Advancement of Family Planning (AAFP) and Chairman of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) of the conference, Dr. Ejike Oji said about 40,000 women die every year from childbirth related complications.
The report is against the backdrop of preparations for the Fourth Family Planning Conference to be held in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
The report also indicated that the country’s maternal mortality ratio has hit 576 deaths out of every 100,000 live births daily.
This makes Nigeria the country with the second highest cases of maternal mortality in the world after India, according to the report.
This is, however, a reversal of achievements recorded as at December 2013 when the rate was reported to have dropped to 224 deaths per 100,000 live births.
The latest report said most of the deaths are associated with poor family planning strategies. Some of the deaths occur in high-risk pregnancies, including young girls with obstructed labour.
Many young girls with unwanted pregnancies die from complications arising from procuring abortions. Women who have too many children, could easily bleed to death after delivery.
“In another case, some pregnancies are very close together and chances of bleeding to death are remarkably high after delivery,’’ the report said.
The report said that family planning had been universally accepted as one of the key pillars and most cost effective means of achieving safe motherhood.
The report indicted Nigeria for being behind in the use of contraceptives. “Nigeria happens to be one of the poor performing countries this season of success.’’
According to the report, for the first time in history, the number of women and girls using modern contraception in the world’s 60 poorest countries has surpassed 300 million, but Nigeria has not recorded success.