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afrol News, 22 August - Nigeria has accounted for 10% of the 5.2 million global maternal deaths, research finding released by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) showed.

The report showed that 52,000 Nigerian women die of pregnancy-related complicated annually.

A senior programme manager for reproductive health at USAID Nigeria, Dr. Abdullahi Maiwada, who disclosed the report, said majority of the maternal deaths victims were women between 15 and 45.

Several factors, including Nigeria's poor health care delivery, non-availability of genuine drugs, patronage of unqualified health experts and cultural practices such as female genital mutilation, were blamed for exacerbating the problem.

At least 75% of the country's maternal deaths occur in the North where cultural practices have become rampant.

With a population of 140 million people, Nigeria, Africa's most densely populated nations, represents 1.7% of the world population.

Over the past five years, the number of Nigeria's maternal deaths shot up from 37,000 in 2000 to 52,000 in 2008. Within the same period, maternal mortality rate per 100,000 live births has also risen from 800 to over 1,000.

By staff writer

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