UNPFA laments high maternal mortality in Nigeria

From Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

The United Nations Population Fund (UNPFA) has expressed worry over the increasing rate of maternal mortality in the country that has resulted in one hundred and one Nigerian women losing their lives every day to preventable maternal mortality making a total of thirty thousand three hundred are snatched by cold hand of death every month
Speaking through the funds Monitoring and Evaluation Analyst in its Kaduna office, Dr. Matthew Onoja, UNPFA said this figure is alarming and calls for urgent concern, in order to save lives of the women who are wives and mothers.
He added that one third of the dead would have been prevented if families stick to the child spacing theory.
Onoja was speaking at the World Population Day commemoration debriefing meeting in Kaduna.
He also said teenage pregnancy in Kaduna was alarming, adding that something had to be done to remedy the situation.
According to him teenage pregnancy in the state stood at 23 per cent according to the statistics released by the demography survey in 2013.
“This percentage is very alarming as nobody knows the projection now. A lot of things might have happened. Something has to be done to remedy the situation.”
He also advised that curbing the menace was not the work of the government alone as every individual must be involved, the parents and the teachers, among others.
“We at UNPFA have always encouraged wanted pregnancy and save delivery. We are not always happy with the lexicon ‘unwanted.’
Speaking earlier, Director, Development and Coordination, Kaduna State Planning and Budget Commission, Mrs. Pheobe Yaji, remarked that child spacing outreach programme was carried out in four local government areas of state.
She named the local government to include Soba, Chikun, Kauru and Igabi, saying, “the idea was not to stop people from giving birth, but to plan on how they should give birth and train their wards.”