The Federal Government has stressed the need to crash the high rate of maternal deaths in the country and ensure that no woman dies while giving birth.

To this end, the government has launched six policy documents aimed at improving maternal healthcare service in health facilities across the federation.

The documents include Safe Motherhood Strategy (2024–2028) – a national blueprint to reduce maternal deaths and improve maternal health commodity availability; Guidelines for the Management of Postpartum Hemorrhage (PPH); Guidelines for Preeclampsia and Eclampsia, Essential Gynaecological Skills Manuals; the RMNCAEH+N Quality of Care Strategy – focusing on respectful, high quality care for women, children and the elderly, as well as the National Training Manual on Obstetric Fistula Management.

Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, who launched the documents during a press briefing to commemorate the 2025 Safe Motherhood Day in Abuja, lamented that maternal mortality rate in the country was among the highest globally, adding the maternal mortality LP indices were unacceptable.

He observed that though about “67 per cent of our women go to antenatal care, the number that actually gives birth through skilled birth attendants is still very low.”

Pate said: “We are trying to increase the number, no matter how good government is, government can’t drag a woman from her house to a facility. It is important that everyone across the chain, including husbands, ensures that when a mother, or a wife is pregnant, that she goes to a health care facility, she is well fed, she is safe, and you prepare for when she comes to deliver, you make sure that she goes to the facility that is equipped.”

The minister stated that this year’s theme, “Innovating for Safer Birth: A Collective Responsibility to Crash Maternal Mortality,” calls on all sectors – governments, health professionals, communities, and development partners – to act decisively in protecting mothers and newborns.