Every single day, Nigeria loses about 145 women of childbearing age, making her the second largest contributor to the maternal mortality rate in the world, according to UNICEF. When this statistic came out earlier this year, it elicited different responses from different people online, and started up a debate among friends, co-workers and total strangers over its veracity. For others, it was just one more piece of data to add to Nigeria’s estimated development numbers game.
For Elnathan Hezekiah, it was a painful memory. Maternal mortality, to him, had a face and a form. On March 26, 2017, it walked into his life and took his wife. She became one of the 145.
In an exclusive with Nigeria Health Watch, Hezekiah said it was his wife’s third pregnancy and “because she was a few days overdue, I drove her to the hospital to be induced.” Between the two, nobody could tell who was more excited at the baby’s coming; Mrs. Hezekiah, at the fact that she was finally going to meet the baby she had…
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