An Assessment of the Factors Affecting Borno State Policy on Maternal Mortality Reduction

Nigeria has been mentioned by the United Nations as having one of the highest rates of maternal mortality in the world. Reducing high maternal mortality ratio is not just a technical and medical challenge but largely a political one which requires the attention and commitment of political leaders. This study brought together some of the determinants of maternal mortality mentioned in extant literature and used simultaneous multiple regression on fourteen variables for maternal mortality modelling in Nigeria. Stepwise regression was then applied to identify, from among the fourteen variables, the major determinant factors that appear to affect maternal mortality ratio more than the others. Narrowing down attention to a small number of the major determinants of high maternal mortality should help gain the focused attention of government since maternal mortality is just one among hundreds of issues competing for the attention of political leaders at any given time. Data on the 36 states of the federation and the FCT Abuja was obtained from the Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey 2008, the Annual Abstract of Statistics of the National Bureau of Statistics and the Society of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of Nigeria. The study found that delivery by a skilled health professional and educational attainment of women had more effect on maternal mortality ratio than the other factors. The implication of this finding is that advocates of maternal mortality reduction in Nigeria will need to focus more attention on developments in the educational sector and not just on making direct improvements to the healthcare system.