34,000 women die yearly from abortions in Nigeria on HWN SEX EDU

An estimated 34,000 women die in 760, 0000
abortions that are performed yearly in Nigeria,
Prof. Innocent Ujah, Director-General, Nigerian
Institute of Medical Research, Lagos, has said.
Ujah said this in Abuja on Friday at an
international meeting on the prevention of
unsafe abortion.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that
Ujah spoke at the forum organised by the
Federation of International Gynaecologists and
Obstetricians (FIGO).
NAN also reports that the meeting involved
participants from Brazil, Mali, Cameroun, Ghana
and Gabon with Nigeria as the host.
Ujah, who is also the focal person, Society of
Gynaecology and Obstetrics of Nigeria
(SOGON), said it was disheartening for a
woman to die in the process of giving life.
He said unsafe abortions contributed to 13 to
50 per cent of child and mother deaths in Sub-
Saharan Africa, adding that it called for
effective action.
“Unsafe abortions contribute 13 to 50 per cent
of deaths in Sub-Saharan Africa in pregnancy
and child birth and we believe we can be part
of the discussions on how to reduce it.
“We are not talking mainly of induced abortion,
we are also talking of miscarriages that are not
taken to the hospital and get infected or the
women bleed to death.
“All these constitute a major problem to
maternal mortality,” Ujah said.
Mr Robert Leke, Regional Coordinator of FIGO
Project in the West Central African region, said
that the proper training of personnel at all
levels would ensure the delivery of babies in a
conducive environment.
He said that quacks had contributed
immensely to the death of women at the point
of delivery.
“We need to train personnel to make sure that
women are delivering in safe hands; we need to
make sure that home deliveries disappear.
“Government had to ensure the training of
midwives, doctors and the training of all those
who have to do with reproductive health,” Leke
said.
“The high percentage of death of mothers
mostly occurs among women who do not use
family planning, which is why it is very
important we extend family planning to
sexually active women,” said the coordinator.

[HWN/NAN]