Political will, socio-cultural reforms key to curbing maternal, newborn deaths — UNFPA

The United Nations Population Fund on Wednesday emphasised the need for political will, socio-cultural reforms, women’s empowerment, and stronger health systems to reduce maternal and neonatal deaths in Nigeria.

According to UNFPA, addressing health financing gaps, strengthening data and accountability mechanisms, promoting family planning, and enhancing community engagement are also critical to crashing Nigeria’s high maternal and neonatal mortality rate.

The Technical Specialist for Reproductive and Maternal Health at UNFPA Nigeria, Lordfred Achu, said this at the ongoing 66th National Council on Health in Calabar, themed, “My health, my right: Accelerating universal health coverage through equity, resilience, and innovation.”

Speaking on “The critical missing link in crashing maternal and neonatal mortality in Nigeria,” Achu stated that persistent issues such as limited female autonomy, inadequate health infrastructure, shortages of skilled personnel, and poor inter-sectoral coordination continue to impede maternal health progress.

Nigeria continues to grapple with one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world.

The country also has a high adolescent fertility rate, low contraceptive use and significant gaps in access to quality maternal and reproductive healthcare.

The 2025 Nigeria Health Statistics Report released by the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare showed that Nigeria recorded an estimated 20,811 maternal, neonatal and under-five deaths between January and September 2025.

The report revealed that in the first quarter of the year (January to March), the country recorded 1,244 maternal deaths, 1,706 neonatal deaths, and 3,820 under-five deaths. In the second quarter (April to June), the country recorded 1,232 maternal deaths, 1,809 neonatal deaths, and 3,672 under-five deaths, while it recorded 1,213 maternal deaths, 1,900 neonatal deaths, and 4,215 under-five deaths in the third quarter (July to September).

The top 10 leading causes of maternal deaths, according to the data, are maternal complications, cardiovascular diseases, malaria, cancer, HIV/AIDS, diabetes mellitus, sepsis, anaemia, tuberculosis, and neonatal complications, while the top 10 causes of neonatal and under-five deaths are diarrhoea, malnutrition, pneumonia/acute respiratory infections, anaemia, meningitis, sepsis, severe malnutrition or hunger, septicaemia, tetanus, and hypoxaemia.

The report highlights the urgent need for coordinated action to reduce preventable maternal and child deaths.

UNFPA stated that reducing maternal and neonatal mortality requires more than just medical interventions.

Achu said, “Part of the link which we need to be stressing on is that political will must be accompanied by sustained coordinated multisectoral investment. A lot is happening in terms of innovative ideas, inadequacies, and sustained healthcare facilities, as well as persistent human resources for health challenges. However, there are shortages, and an uneven distribution of skilled personnel contributes largely to substandard care.

“A lot is being done in those areas with repair systems, with data management, economic barriers, but we can start doing a bit more in the areas of persistent sociocultural norms and limited female autonomy, so that we can accelerate progress in crushing maternal deaths.

“Reducing maternal and neonatal mortality is not just about saving lives. It is about equality and equity. So some success stories, and like I mentioned, mostly drawn around Africa, but we need to address vulnerabilities which are due to social and cultural factors.”

He also urged Nigeria to enforce girl-child education, empower women to make informed health decisions, actively engage communities and religious leaders, integrate maternal health discussions into existing women’s groups and associations, involve men through community dialogue, and support advocacy initiatives such as the maternal mortality movement to reduce maternal deaths.

“Enforce the girl-child education, empower women, engage the communities and religious leaders. Integrating discussions on maternal health in existing women’s groups, discussions and associations, engage men, and encourage community dialogue,” he emphasised.

Drawing on UNFPA data, Achu revealed that Nigeria, India, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Pakistan account for nearly half of all global maternal deaths, with Nigeria ranking among countries with very high maternal mortality ratios, between 500 and 999 deaths per 100,000 live births.

He noted that Nigeria records one maternal death every seven minutes. At the same time, millions of women still face barriers to care due to poverty, ignorance, cultural taboos, and limited access to health facilities.

“Our maternal mortality ratio is very high, and the adolescent fertility rate is also very high. Some figures that we found are 106 births per 1,000 women. We noticed that 24 million girls get married before the age of 18. The modern contraceptive prevalence rate is 15 per cent, and the unmet need for family planning is 21 per cent. The fertility rate is 4.8 births per woman.

“So our contraceptive prevalence is low, and this is actually in a way contributing to maternal death,” he stated.

Achu added that despite ongoing efforts, systemic barriers continue to hinder progress, and several underlying issues must be urgently addressed if Nigeria is to achieve significant reductions in maternal and neonatal mortality.