Nigeria
Women in Nigeria have a 1 in 9 lifetime risk of maternal death
The most populous country in Africa, Nigeria, also has one of the highest maternal mortality ratios at 800 maternal deaths per every 100,000 live births.
Staff applying the LifeWrap
Safe Motherhood began work in Nigeria in 2003, with funding from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Over the next 4 years our study grew to include 12 hospitals, covering 4 states in Northern and Southern Nigeria. We carried out a pre-intervention, Intervention study to compare how well women treated with the NASG did compared to women in the same hospitals on whom the NASG was not used.
Over the course of four years we collected observations on 756 women; 182 in the pre-intervention group and 574 women in the NASG group. Fewer women were included in the pre-intervention group because once the providers in Nigeria began using the NASG they immediately noticed the difference in outcomes and stakeholders wanted to bring this life-saving technology to women as quickly as possible.
Adeoti with providers
When we compared the outcomes of the two groups, the NASG group fared much better, in spite of starting the study in worse condition. They lost less additional blood after entry to the study, were less likely to develop a debilitating complication (morbidity), and were less likely to die than those in the pre-intervention group. These results were statistically significant and some initial reports have been published in the peer reviewed press. You can find a list of these on our scientific publications page.
NASG training participants
We are indebted to the committed doctors, nurses and midwives of Nigeria for their hard work in documenting the successes of the NASG. Many future women will owe their lives to these pioneering researchers!