The Federal Government has intensified fight against maternal and neonatal deaths, targeting 2.9 million pregnant women with free and timely healthcare services under a new incentive scheme designed to drive antenatal attendance, skilled deliveries and postnatal care across Nigeria.
The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Muhammad Ali Pate, disclosed this on Monday in Abuja at the official flag-off of incentives under the Maternal and Neonatal Mortality Reduction Innovation Initiative (MAMII), launched at the State House by First Lady Senator Oluremi Tinubu.
Prof Pate said the program was developed under the Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative to tackle both the supply and demand sides of maternal healthcare, including strengthening primary healthcare facilities, improving human resources, providing essential medical commodities and making services more affordable.
He expressed government determination to ensure that pregnancy did not become a death sentence for Nigerian women, stressing that pregnancy is not a disease and no woman should lose her life while giving birth.
The Coordinating Minister disclosed that more than 60,000 women had already received free Caesarean sections and other emergency obstetric services through the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) as part of the Federal Government’s efforts to remove financial barriers to life-saving maternal care.
According to him, more than 120,000 frontline health workers had been retrained, while thousands of healthcare facilities had been revitalised to improve the capacity of the health system to respond to maternal and newborn emergencies.
Prof Pate further disclosed that more than 6,000 women affected by obstetric fistula had received corrective treatment and empowerment support, describing the intervention as part of the government’s broader effort to improve the quality of life of women and protect them from preventable complications associated with childbirth.
He explained that the new incentives under MAMII were designed to encourage pregnant women to access healthcare early and consistently, particularly antenatal care, skilled birth attendance and postnatal services.
Pate further asserted that increasing utilisation of maternal healthcare services must go hand in hand with strengthening the ability of health facilities and frontline workers to deliver quality care when women arrive.
Prof Pate also placed maternal nutrition at the centre of the government’s strategy, highlighting the importance of multiple micronutrient supplementation in protecting mothers and improving outcomes for newborns.
He linked the maternal-health intervention to the Community Food Bank Initiative, stressing that well-nourished mothers were essential to the development of the human capital required to drive Nigeria’s future economic growth.
The Minister called on state governments and Commissioners for Health to sustain and expand the gains recorded under MAMII, stressing that States are closest to communities and therefore have a critical role in reducing maternal and newborn deaths.
The Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Iziaq Adekunle Salako, said Nigeria’s maternal mortality burden remained unacceptably high, with the 2023–24 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey indicating that a Nigerian woman faces approximately a 1-in-19 lifetime risk of dying from pregnancy-related causes.
Dr Salako said Nigeria accounts for close to 29 percent of global maternal deaths, making the country’s maternal-health crisis one of the most urgent public-health challenges requiring sustained and targeted intervention.
He disclosed that MAMII, launched by the Federal Government in November 2024, targets 172 LGAs across 33 states.
The Minister said the targeted LGAs represent about 20 percent of Nigeria’s total LGAs but account for approximately 55 percent of maternal deaths, making them priority areas for government intervention.
According to him, the initiative seeks to reduce maternal mortality by 30 percent and neonatal mortality by 20 percent by 2028, while providing free, timely and comprehensive care to approximately 2.9 million pregnant women.
Dr Salako disclosed that more than 250 health facilities were currently implementing MAMII in states including Bauchi, Borno, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina and Ogun.
He said more than 32,000 women and 1,700 newborns had already benefited from emergency obstetric and neonatal care through the programme.
The Minister added that NEMSAS had transported nearly 79,000 beneficiaries to appropriate healthcare facilities, with pregnant women accounting for about 60 percent of those transported.
He said the programme was already producing measurable changes in healthcare utilisation, with fourth-visit antenatal attendance increasing by 20 percent in one quarter in MAMII LGAs.
Dr Salako said the newly introduced incentives were intended to reinforce behaviours that save lives, particularly early antenatal registration, facility-based delivery and postnatal follow-up.
He reaffirmed the administration’s commitment to ensuring that no woman loses her life while giving birth.
The First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, who officially flagged off the initiative at the State House, said the intervention represented another important step towards ensuring that every Nigerian child has a healthy start in life.
She said the initiative aligned with President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, which places human capital development and improved health outcomes at the centre of national development.
According to her, improving maternal and newborn health requires deliberate interventions that address the barriers women and families face in accessing essential healthcare during pregnancy, childbirth and the postnatal period.
She called for stronger collaboration among government institutions, healthcare providers, development partners, communities and other stakeholders to ensure that interventions translate into measurable improvements in maternal and newborn survival.
The First Lady said the incentives would complement existing government efforts to improve access to quality maternal and newborn services, strengthen healthcare delivery and encourage greater utilisation of available services.
She stressed that reducing maternal and neonatal mortality must remain a national priority, noting that every preventable maternal or newborn death represents a loss that Nigeria must collectively work to avert.
Sen Oluremi also commended Pate and his team for their commitment to transforming the health sector.
She praised the Coordinating Minister for what she described as his passion for the job, saying his dedication had made it easier for her to support the administration’s health initiatives.
The First Lady also commended the ministry’s team for remaining committed to delivering what is needed for Nigerians.
The latest intervention represents a targeted shift in Nigeria’s battle against maternal mortality, with the government concentrating resources on 172 LGAs responsible for more than half of the country’s maternal deaths.
With more than 60,000 women already receiving free emergency obstetric services, 120,000 frontline workers retrained, 6,000 fistula patients treated and 79,000 beneficiaries transported to care, the Federal Government is seeking to combine financial incentives with stronger health-system capacity.
The government’s immediate challenge, however, is to convert increased healthcare utilisation into sustained reductions in deaths.
The 30 percent maternal mortality reduction target and 20 percent neonatal mortality reduction target by 2028 will require sustained funding, reliable emergency transportation, skilled health workers, essential medicines and stronger state-level implementation.
Prof Pate and Dr Salako commended President Tinubu, the First Lady, health-sector agencies, state governments and development partners, including UNICEF, UNFPA, USAID and WHO, for supporting the intervention.
The Federal Government said the initiative would ultimately increase demand for essential maternal and newborn healthcare services while strengthening facilities and frontline workers to provide timely, affordable and quality life-saving care.
For a country responsible for nearly 29 percent of global maternal deaths, the success of MAMII will be measured not by the number of incentives distributed, but by how many mothers and newborns survive because they reached the right care at the right time.
