Reducing Maternal Deaths in Nigeria: Interrogating the Applicability of the Right to Health

Statement of Problem: Nigeria is one of the countries with the highest maternal mortality rate in the world. The persistence of maternal mortality globally has been linked to violations of various human rights of women, particularly, the right to health, guaranteed by various international and regional human rights instruments. There is an ongoing global campaign for the human rights approach and especially the right to health framework to be adopted by countries for addressing various public health issues including maternal mortality. This has also led to high incidence countries being criticized for not complying with the directions of the right to health framework relevant for securing the maternal health of their citizens. Objective: This article interrogates whether the applicability of the right to health to achieve the reduction of maternal mortality in Nigeria is beyond arguments. Methodology and Findings: This research employed the desk or library-based methodology and highlighted some problems associated with the protection of the right. These problems relate to issues such as the content of the right, its legitimacy, nomenclature, lack of an identifiable scope thus making it a mere conglomeration of other rights, lack of a philosophical foundation, impracticability, and lack of indicators to determine state compliance. Conclusion: Thus, it is the argument of this paper that these concerns raise questions with respect to the applicability of the right for the reduction of maternal mortality in Nigeria.