Nigeria’s Maternal Health Crisis Deepens Amid Rising Insecurity and Dwindling Aid
In northeast Nigeria, mothers face some of the highest risks of dying during childbirth. With 75,000 maternal deaths in 2023, more than a quarter of the global total, Nigeria now leads the world in maternal mortality.
Years of Boko Haram insurgency, collapsing health systems, and dwindling foreign aid have left women stranded without safe hospitals, doctors, or medication. In Borno State, many clinics are destroyed, and insecurity cuts off roads to the few functioning facilities.
Mothers like Aisha Muhammed from Konduga describe the impossible odds: “A lack of good hospitals is our problem, as well as a lack of workers, medication, and doctors… A lack of access to the road from Konduga to Maiduguri in the night time to visit the hospital is also a problem.”
The crisis is deepening as U.S. aid dries up and Nigeria slashes its family planning budget by 97% in 2025. Humanitarian workers warn that without urgent support, maternal deaths will rise even higher.
For women like Falmata Muhammed, who lost a baby on the road to Maiduguri and now faces another risky pregnancy in a town where the hospital was burned down, the stakes are life and death.
Every child has the right to be born into safety, with access to proper healthcare and the chance to grow up with their mother.
