Maternal mortality in a Nigerian teaching hospital - a continuing tragedy

The aim of this review is to determine the maternal mortality ratio (MMR) in a Nigerian tertiary health institution (University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Ilorin, Nigeria). The review was done through a retrospective analysis of maternal mortality records. The MMR for the 6-year period (1997-2002) was 825 per 100,000 live births. The common causes of maternal mortality included severe pre-eclampsia/eclampsia, 30 (27.8%); haemorrhage, 22 (20.4%) and complications of unsafe abortion 16 (14.8%). Grandmultiparous and patients aged 40 years and above were at the highest risk. This hospital-based MMR is very high and when compared with previous reports showed a 150% increase. Most of the maternal deaths are, however, preventable. Increased efforts at educating women, improvement of the socioeconomic conditions of the populace and strong political commitment in making emergency obstetric care available in rural and district hospitals are some of the measures that need to be adopted to reduce this avoidable tragedy.