Recent studies published in the reputable scien¬tific journal, The Lancet, ranked Nigeria second in global rates of stillbirths. The report ranked Pakistan and Chad first and third respectively. Rwanda, on the other hand, was reported to have reduced its number of stillbirths. Some 3,000 babies were said to be still¬born globally, every day, most of them due to preventable causes.
A stillbirth, according to medical ex¬perts, is when a baby dies in the womb after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Most still-births happen before a woman goes into labour, but some happen during labour and at birth.
Available statistics from The Lancet show that two-thirds of last year’s 2.6 million stillbirths occurred in Africa. Half of the stillbirths occurred during labour as a result of preventable con¬ditions, notably syphilis and malaria. Ninety-eight per cent of stillbirths oc¬cur in low-income and middle-income countries and 75 per cent are in sub- Saharan Africa and South Asia. More than half occur in conflict or emergency zones, while half of stillbirths (1.3 million) occur during labour and birth. In sub-Saharan Africa, two-thirds of stillbirths are in rural areas. More than 40 million women give birth unattended at home each year. At present rates of progress, it will be 160 years before a woman in Africa will have the same chance of her baby being born alive as a woman in a high-income country.
Despite the magnitude of this problem, the studies insist that stillbirths are prevent¬able through high-quality ante-natal care. They also pointed out the widespread be¬lief that stillbirths are due to birth defects and are unavoidable. The report, however, said that defects only account for 7.3 per cent of stillbirths after 28 weeks.
It is sad that Nigeria, the giant of Africa, always posts abysmal performances in human development rankings, whether in education or health. For years, we have occupied the bottom rungs of global indexes on corruption, accidents, malnutrition, bad roads etc.
We are, therefore, hardly surprised at this poor rating on stillbirths. It is a true reflection of our poor health system and the long years of mis-governance at all tiers of government. Let all levels of government work together to put these shameful sta¬tistics behind us.
Nigeria has been branded as the worst place for a woman to give birth to a baby because of our dismal record of high maternal deaths put at 630 deaths/100,000 live births (2010). Now, we have the second highest stillbirth figures in the world.
All these are pointers to the fact that there is a lot to be done in our health care delivery system, especially at the primary level where these deaths mostly occur. We have not got it right in child and maternal health despite all claims to the contrary.
Let the Federal Government take our abysmal stillbirth ranking as a call to ad¬dress the problems of maternal and child deaths in the country.
While its plan to build 10,000 hospitals in the 774 local governments is a welcome development, it should not lose sight of the enormous health challenges of pregnant women.
The government must do something urgently to improve our ranking on global hu¬man development indexes. Let us resolve to make this country a safe place to deliver a baby. We cannot wait for donkey years to achieve this basic healthcare need that is taken for granted in advanced countries. We say this bearing in mind that we have vast human and material resources to achieve it. Nigeria has no business being in the league of countries with the highest records of stillbirths.
The government should discourage pregnant women from giving birth at home, churches and other such facilities that do not have adequate knowledge and equip¬ment to handle safe delivery. But, this can only be done if it can provide a workable alternative. Government should equip all rural hospitals for safe delivery of pregnant women. It should significantly reduce the cost of ante-natal care and child delivery to help remove the country from the list of countries with the world’s highest stillbirth figures. Poverty and ignorance, two problems that are fuelling this problem, should also be addressed.
