One death every seven minutes: The world’s worst country to give birth

BBC:

At the age of 24, Nafisa Salahu was in danger of becoming just another statistic in Nigeria, where a woman dies giving birth every seven minutes, on average.

Going into labour during a doctors’ strike meant that, despite being in hospital, there was no expert help on hand once a complication emerged.

Her baby’s head was stuck and she was just told to lie still during labour, which lasted three days.

Eventually a Caesarean was recommended and a doctor was located who was prepared to carry it out.

“I thanked God because I was almost dying. I had no strength left, I had nothing left,” Ms Salahu tells the BBC from Kano state in the north of the country.

She survived, but tragically her baby died.

Eleven years on, she has gone back to hospital to give birth several times and takes a fatalistic attitude. “I knew [each time] I was between life and death but I was no longer afraid,” she says.

Ms Salahu’s experience is not unusual.

Nigeria is the world’s most dangerous nation in which to give birth.

According to the most recent UN estimates for the country, compiled from 2023 figures, one in 100 women die in labour or in the following days.

That puts it at the top of a league table no country wants to head.

In 2023, Nigeria accounted for well over a quarter – 29% – of all maternal deaths worldwide.

That is an estimated total of 75,000 women dying in childbirth in a year, which works out at one death every seven minutes.