By Gabriel Enogholase

BENIN—CHIEF Medical Director, CMD, of Federal Government’s Irrua Specialist and Teaching Hospital, ISTH, Irrua, Edo State, Dr. Sylvanus Okogbenin, has said that over 145 per 1,000 women die daily in Nigeria from complications arising from maternal mortality, according to the latest World Health Organisation, WHO, report.

He said that whereas the country contributes less than one percent to world population, she contributes 10 per cent to global maternal mortality, describing it as a critical development.

Speaking at the 2015 Annual General Meeting, AGM, and Scientific Conference of the Medical Women Association of Nigeria, MWAN, hosted by ISTH, he pointed out that most programmes designed to reduce maternal mortality in Nigeria exclude the male folks and assume that the women have the greatest stake and interest in protecting their own reproductive health.

The consultant obstetrician and gynecologist regretted that several efforts to halt maternal mortality had focused exclusively on female ante-natal population and biomedical interventions, without similar emphasis on socio-cultural factors and gender dynamics involved in maternal health.