Nigeria records 4 percent growth in babies delivered by skilled birth attendants

Nigeria has recorded a four percent growth in the number of babies being delivered by skilled birth attendants, according to a media report by 'This Day'.

UNICEF monitoring and evaluation specialist, Maureen Zubie-Okolo has stated this in Port Harcourt, Rivers State during a media conference on National Demographic Health Survey (NDHS), SDGs, Data and solution journalism.

The proportion of births assisted by skilled birth attendants has increased over the past decade, from 30 percent in 2008 to 43 percent in 2018, while the numbers decreased for the deliveries attended by traditional birth attendants from 22 percent in 2013 to 20 percent in 2018.

Okolo said that despite the development, Nigeria is facing a significant number of deaths of children under five and there has been no noticeable change in the infant mortality rate.

"The trend in basic vaccination coverage shows that the benchmark has been pegged at 90 percent. This shows that not much progress has been made. Only two percent improvement has been recorded in the years under review. With this, Nigeria has fallen short of SDG-3," Okolo said.

She also talked about the importance of education for every mother, as education can play one of the vital roles for women to make the right decisions as it concerns maternal and child health from conception to birth.