Zulaihatu, the first daughter of National Leader of the Congress of Progressive Change (CPC) and former Military Head of State, Muhammad Buhari, has died from childbirth complications, in yet another sordid reminder of reputation of the country as an armpit of maternal death mortality on the continent.
Zulai, a graduate of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), died on Thursday evening at the Nasara Hospital, Marafa Estate, Kaduna, after delivering a baby. She was also known to have been suffering from sickle cell anaemia.
According to former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, who confirmed the death and described it as “very sad,” the deceased would be buried before dawn in line with Islamic practice.
Nigeria holds one of the highest figures of pregnancy-related deaths in the world, ranking second only to India, according to a recent report of the Centre for Reproductive Rights.
While the World Health Organisation (WHO) says there are at least 529, 000 maternal deaths per year, globally; Nigeria says there are about 60,000 maternal deaths annually. Technically, therefore, approximately nine per cent of global maternal deaths occur in Nigeria.
Only in May 2012, Professor Bryan Adinma, erstwhile commissioner for health in southeastern Anambra State, speaking at a workshop on Women Reproductive Health and Rights, disclosed that more than 60,000 women still die from pregnancy-related complications annually in Nigeria.
Research conducted by a coalition of civil society organisations put it differently, saying one woman dies every 10 minutes in Nigeria during child delivery, representing 545 deaths per 100,000 successful deliveries.
Nigeria is also one of the continent’s worst performers in the quest to achieve the Millennium Development Goal 5 of reducing maternal mortality by 75 per cent by 2015.
A 41 per cent reduction over the course of the last 20 years is all the country has managed to muster. Other woeful performers on the continent include Burundi (23 per cent), Guinea-Bissau (29 per cent), Liberia (30 per cent), Ghana (40 per cent), Democratic Republic of Congo (42 per cent), Côte d’Ivoire (43 per cent), Senegal (45 per cent), Mozambique (46 per cent), and Tanzania and Uganda (47 per cent).
