Gynecology and Obstetrics

Nigeria is a very important country for global maternal death burden. Nigeria and India alone contributed to over one-third of the global maternal deaths in 2015. The World Bank estimates that the maternal death in Nigeria was about (814; UI 596 to 1180) per 100,000 live births in 2015. Several factors are responsible for the trend of maternal deaths in the country, one of which is the rate of institutional deliveries, which stood at about 38% in 2017. Of the women who choose to deliver in a health facility, outright refusal of cesarean deliveries is common place even in emergent critical conditions. Several opinions and schools of thought have emerged in trying to understand this trend in Nigeria. In this session, I will be sharing five stories which represent the five major typologies for women who refuse cesarean births in Southeastern Nigeria. There is an urgent need to increase awareness of the safety and the role of emergency cesarean section in Nigeria as these interventional deliveries when indicated have been proven to drastically reduce maternal and perinatal mortalities.