FG seeks stronger financing to reduce maternal deaths, bridge N720bn gap

The Federal Government has renewed calls for stronger domestic resource mobilisation to reduce maternal deaths, citing a N720 billion funding gap in the health sector.

The call was made in Abuja during a performance dialogue by stakeholders on maternal health financing, where they reviewed progress under the Maternal Mortality Reduction Innovation Initiative (MAMII) and examined financing challenges.

The roundtable has as its theme, “Investing in Mothers: Aligning Finance, Policy and Innovation for Improved Maternal Outcomes.”

The National Lead of MAMII, Dr Dayo Adeyanju, said increased domestic investment was critical to achieving the initiative’s target of reducing maternal mortality by 30 per cent by 2027.

He said the initiative also aimed to cut neonatal mortality by 20 per cent by 2027 and increase utilisation of health facilities by 60 per cent before 2030.

Adeyanju said Nigeria continued to bear one of the world’s highest maternal and neonatal mortality burdens, with more than 572 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births.

He added that the neonatal mortality rate remained 41 deaths per 1,000 live births, underscoring the urgency of strengthening maternal and newborn healthcare services.

According to him, MAMII has prioritised 172 Local Government Areas (LGAs) responsible for about half of the country’s maternal mortality burden.

“The initiative addresses the major delays responsible for maternal and neonatal deaths, including delays in seeking care, reaching facilities and receiving quality healthcare,” he said.

Adeyanju said the programme also focused on improving coordination among stakeholders and encouraging timely action by communities and health providers.

He said the initiative was built on six pillars, including data intelligence, management, health financing, facility readiness, access to services and community engagement.

“The framework aligns with the Sector-Wide Approach, ensuring one plan, one budget, one report and one coordinated conversation across the health sector,” he said.

Reviewing the 2025 National Annual Operational Plan, Adeyanju said the health sector required an estimated N3.68 trillion to implement planned interventions.

He said government funding stood at N1.70 trillion, representing 46.3 per cent of the requirement, while development partners were expected to provide N1.25 trillion.

He said this left a financing gap of about N720 billion, representing 19.5 per cent of the total funding requirement.

According to him, N3.09 trillion, representing 87.9 per cent of planned expenditure, has been earmarked for strengthening efficient, equitable and quality health systems.

Also speaking, the Strengthening Health Systems Lead at BudgIT Foundation, Dr Biobele Davidson, said inadequate financing remained a major obstacle to reducing maternal deaths.

Davidson said Nigeria accounted for nearly one-fifth of global maternal deaths, in spite of having about two per cent of the world’s population.

“Approximately 82,000 Nigerian women die every year from pregnancy-related complications, many of which are preventable through adequate financing and a functional primary healthcare system,” he said.

Davidson said public investment remained significantly below the Abuja Declaration target of allocating 15 per cent of national budgets to health.

He said the 2026 federal government health budget stood at N2.51 trillion, representing only 3.67 per cent of the national budget.

“Between 69 per cent and 77 per cent of health financing comes directly from patients through out-of-pocket spending, creating major barriers to maternal healthcare,” he said.

Davidson said MAMII had recorded progress across 172 priority LGAs in 33 states through registration of over 500,000 pregnant women.

He said the initiative had also upgraded more than 3,000 primary healthcare centres, deployed digital tools for tracking high-risk pregnancies and established state-level task forces.

However, he said poor budget implementation continued to undermine maternal healthcare delivery across the country.

“Funds meant for emergency obstetric care, skilled birth attendance and referral services frequently do not reach frontline health facilities,” he said.

Davidson said BudgIT’s assessment of 5,099 primary healthcare centres revealed major infrastructure and workforce gaps affecting emergency maternal care.

According to him, only 13.89 per cent of the facilities have ambulances, while nearly half lack nurses or midwives.

He added that about 40 per cent have no laboratory services, while more than half lack adequate security for round-the-clock emergency care.

Davidson identified poor budget transparency, diversion of local government health funds and weak accountability mechanisms as major barriers to improving maternal health outcomes.

He urged governments at all levels to increase health funding, strengthen implementation of the Basic Health Care Provision Fund and expand health insurance coverage for women in the informal sector.

“Financing decisions must translate into better maternal survival outcomes for the approximately 82,000 Nigerian women who die annually from pregnancy-related complications,” he said.