When Abiodun Adereni founded HelpMum two years ago, his dream was to provide basic health information to pregnant women and to help tackle maternal and infant mortality in Nigeria. Now, faced with the harsh reality of decreasing maternal and child mortality in the country, Adereni feels much more work needs to be done to achieve this dream.
Across Nigeria, pregnant women die due to poor access to quality care, while children die from vaccine preventable diseases. According to a 2015 report by the United Nations, Nigeria is one of the most dangerous places to give birth and contributes to 19 percent of maternal deaths in the world. Annually, according to the report, Nigeria records a total of 58, 000 maternal deaths. Additionally, the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) says Nigeria has the world's second highest number of deaths in children under five, losing around 2,700 children every day. This means around 120 children died for every 1, 000 live births in 2016. Although this ratio is an improvement from 2003 when 200 children died for every 1, 000 births, every life that is lost still matters especially as most of them are preventable. Only one out of three babies born in Nigeria, is delivered in a health facility. HelpMum is working to help reduce maternal and infant mortality by giving pregnant women and nursing mothers in underserved communities birth kits that will help them when they are giving birth.
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