Pregnancy complications 'kill 144' Nigerian women a day

LAGOS - The number of women dying from pregnancy complications in Nigeria is similar to an airplane crashing every day, but the crisis will be felt less in the middle of pandemics such as AIDS and malaria, say activists.

At least 144 women die each day in Nigeria during pregnancy or childbirth, according to UN and World Bank statistics, placing it among some of the worst countries for women to deliver babies in the world after Sierra Leone and Niger, among others.

"Imagine a plane crash in Nigeria daily, only pregnant women. Can we stand by and do nothing? But this is precisely the case - death during pregnancy and childbirth has become almost invisible," Sandra OBIAGO, director of a local lobby group, Communication for Change, said on Thursday.

Activists on Thursday released three brief but forceful Nollywood movies to press for an urgent change of attitude and provision of adequate health services to avoid the problems associated with pregnancy.

The movies take a provocative look at the deadly crisis in the sub-the second largest economy in sub-Saharan Africa and eight, the largest oil exporter, where 70 percent of the 150 million people live on less than a dollar a day.

Nigeria lacks some basic infrastructure like electricity and good roads, while not enough medical personnel to Africa's most populous country.

Besides attacking the dilapidated facilities, the films also attacked the cultural and religious traditions that endanger the lives of pregnant women.

In one film, a man whose wife has a complicated job, a waste of time to stress that no male doctor attending her. By the time he is convinced that no woman doctor and agree on the emergency caesarean section for a man, no power outage at the time it takes to the stage, and the generator of the hospital is out of order.

"It is a failure of governance, we must make our leaders accountable to ensure that they provide the infrastructure," Ransome said one civilian and human rights activist Yemisi-Kuti.

Nigerians have become permissive of corrupt leaders.

"Until we start to look for reforms in electoral systems so we can get the correct leaders ... we will be in this catch 22 situation forever," he told AFP.

Nollywood director Teco Benson said the Nigerian film industry celebrities always the most effective tool in the struggle for change, especially in the cultural and religious beliefs that have contributed to worsening the crisis.

"We're trying to get people to see things differently and act," said Adhiambo Odaga of the Ford Foundation in West Africa.