The Right to Health: A Human Rights Perspective on Maternal Mortality in Nigeria
Introduction
Maternal health within Nigeria can currently be found as a potential public health problem that needs to be addressed with the help of a human rights-oriented initiative (Asefa, 2021). The entire report discusses developing a human rights viewpoint on the vital issue of Maternal Mortality around Nigeria. The paper begins by providing a brief background in relation to the health issue, associated determinants, and violations with regard to human rights. Thereafter, it is addressed by the strategy that could be adopted as a human rights-oriented initiative for addressing maternal mortality within Nigeria. The strategy has been justified with the development of an effective implementation plan. Furthermore, it follows challenges to the adoption phase where several obstacles have been outlined that might occur in adopting the approach. Lastly, the paper includes the evaluation and monitoring phase by showcasing its effectiveness at the global and national levels. Some core findings in relation to this rights-oriented approach like paradigm alterations towards rebranding of health services for women to receive equal health rights have been presented in the conclusion.
Background
Within 2020, the ratio of maternal mortality within the African Region had been assessed to be around 531 deaths out of every 1 lakh live births. There is an extreme rise in rates of maternal mortality surrounding Nigeria which is estimated at 1047 mothers' deaths after every one lakh live births. Within 2017, the rate of maternal mortality was calculated at 917 out of 1 lakh live births but it gradually increased to 14% by the end of 2020 and attained 1047 deaths. Key determinants of this health problem include social practices, absence of schooling, obstructed admittance to standard quality administrations of maternal medical care, orientation imbalances, and relevant others. Major human rights problems linked with maternal mortality around Nigeria can be basically outlined as lacking the right to offer a proper living, ensure well-being, non-segregation rights, protection and fairness, and also the right to obtain information (WHO, 2023). Well-known liberties like the Maputo Convention have even failed within its developed projects and strategies for maternal mortality in Nigeria. Therefore, vital complexities arise to confirm the admittance of women to basic maternal clinical services such as post-pregnancy care, consideration of crisis obstetrics, and antenatal consideration.
Strategy for a rights-oriented approach
Design
To minimize and resolve maternal mortality issues within Nigeria, an amalgamated rights-driven strategy applying policy models and education has been introduced. An effective approach to provide response to the issue of maternal mortality within Nigeria can be referred to as knowing well and responding to maternal healths epidemiological dimensions. Equally, it is an original fact that clinical interventions comprising emergency and routine provision of obstetric care shall be facilitated by non-clinical interventional approaches (Hunt & Bueno De Mesquita, 2024). This is due to the fact that maternal mortality within Nigeria shall not only be identified as an imperative of public health yet also a necessity of human rights to eliminate preventable deaths taking place during the procedure of birth for women. Human rights-oriented initiative integration as one kind of mechanism to overcome maternal maternity is obtaining a grip among a wide variety of stakeholders along with showcasing its prevalence around Nigeria. Based on the resolution of the Human Rights Council, human rights-oriented approaches incorporation into maternal mortalitys minimization can produce a significant contribution to the basic objective to minimize preventable maternal mortality at an acceptable greater rate.
The resolution highlights the foremost global intergovernmental identification considering the fact that maternal mortality has been identified as a problem of human rights, it motivates all governmental tiers around Nigeria as bearers of joint duty to fulfill their rights to protect, respect, and accomplish girls' and women's human rights (Morhe et al., 2019). This human rights-oriented approach to improving maternal mortality empowers girls and women as rights holders for climbing their rights as well as asserting prescribed freedoms following the regulations of international human rights. They get transformed in this way to achieving maternal health policies and plans passive targets to maternal health rights active claimants. Human Rights High Commissioner based on the Council of Human Rights has reflected the conceptual model to understand the dimensions of human rights in relation to maternal mortality together with adopting a human rights-oriented initiative within maternal mortality (Emelonye et al., 2019). All governmental tires within Nigeria are obligated by it to make sure that human rights participation principles, together with accountability, non-discrimination, equality, and participation play a major role in health delivery and planning.
Justification
Political and legal commitments have been placed by the government of Nigeria to safeguard the human rights of every individual commonly as well as particularly within the human rights of women. Obligations that occur in these global and regional frameworks of human rights place a duty on the Nigerian government to act within specific manners or obstruct particular acts so that human rights can be protected and promoted as well as ensure fundamental freedoms of groups and individuals. To lessen discriminatory practices that provide a potential rise considering maternal mortality aspect within Nigeria, empowerment should be delivered to girls and women for making informed decisions to safeguard their health in the form of delivering access to education and information (Obadina, 2020). Access of Nigerian women to data as well as the realization of their education rights can be considered a primary element and directly connected to their capability for making informed choices concerning maternal health.
Challenges to implementation
Within the high incidence context in relation to avoidable maternal mortality as well as successive governments persistent failure within Nigeria to primarily address the whip for torture, maternal mortality can be considered a gross violation of human rights. It is arranged by the failure specifically on the Nigerian governments part for taking positive action thereby facilitating the enjoyment in relation to womens human rights. Avoidable maternal mortality can be identified as the obligation failure in relation to the Nigerian government for respecting, protecting and accomplishing girls and womens human rights (Reproductiverights, 2020). The right to provide respect necessitates all government tiers to obstruct from making interference or curtail human rights enjoyment among girls and women within the procedure of birth. Obtaining the obligations' dismal negation in relation to offering protection, respect, and accomplishing girls' and women's human rights who undergo the procedure of birth, maternal mortality has been known as a significant social injustice specifically by every government tier within Nigeria. When a girl or woman dies during childbirth or pregnancy within remote villages and cities, it showcases a major failure from the side of the concerned Local or State Government to utilize its ready resources for taking important steps in addressing the human rights issue. Further, a major deficiency is also suffered by Nigerian health systems and showcases failure to fulfill the necessary standards to resolve a healthy health unit's requisite elements like facilities and funding (Simona et al., 2023). Organizational structures, financing arrangements, and policies together with accountability and transparency are specifically deficient within the health system of Nigeria and need to be effectively addressed by the systems-oriented approach.
Monitoring and evaluation
Maternal health financing and budgeting must not be left alone to complete health priorities single-handedly, instead, every governmental tier within Nigeria must accomplish the minimum content in relation to maternal health rights as well as allocate maximum resources available to maternal health rights' progressive realization. Within the relevant context, maternal health plans and policies' adoption should be monitored and evaluated depending on reliable surveillance systems and health data calibrating the accessibility, availability, equality, and acceptability in relation to services of maternal mental health for all children and women without facing any bias and discrimination. In a consequent manner, education of human rights and training provided for nurses, doctors, various clinical practitioners, and midwives on the rights similar to basic health conditions and specific emphasis to safe motherhood shall incorporate them for advocating and monitoring for government to protect, respect and facilitate human rights suitable to safe motherhood (Yamin, 2023). Education related to human rights must be introduced within medical school curriculum or nursing and amalgamations with law schools improved to promote professional training and education for clinical practitioners.
Conclusion
Government specifically at every local, state, and federal government level in Nigeria must develop as well as effectively adopt strategies and policies that make sure girls and women are provided treatment with dignity and respect while receiving health care services. The human rights-oriented strategy should amend or introduce legislation in connection with standards of global human rights and motivate diversified stakeholders within private-public partnerships surrounding maternal services of health care. It must also strengthen all health systems, comprising recruiting and retraining suitable workforce continually with extraordinary emphasis on maternal health and care services. In the government's closest form to the individuals' the Nigerian local government must educate the population by broadening the attention to girls' and women's health, mobilizing and involving the community in enhancing the delivery of maternal health care. Depending on their positions of better resources and vintage, state and federal governments must fund schools of healthcare to deliver the greatest and standard quality education specifically for practices that set the foundation within evidence-oriented research of health care.
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