In a country where motherhood is often seen as a symbol of hope and continuity, the grim reality of stillbirths casts a heavy shadow.
A recent study by the Improving Nigeria’s Capacity to Use Registered Stillbirths for Decision-making (SPEED Project) has laid bare the unsettling truth: Nigeria’s stillbirth rate stands at 24 per 1,000 total births—twice the global target set by the Every Newborn Action Plan (ENAP) of 12 per 1,000 by 2030.
The findings, revealed at the SPEED Project Dissemination and Closeout Meeting in Abuja, paint a stark picture. More than 400,000 stillbirths were recorded across the country between 2014 and 2023. The northwestern states bear the brunt of this burden, with Zamfara (53/1,000) and Katsina (52/1,000) recording the highest rates—more than double the national estimate.
The study, implemented by the International Research Centre of Excellence (IRCE) at the Institute of Human Virology Nigeria (IHVN), uncovered a deep disparity in stillbirth outcomes across states. While Osun and Ogun in the southwest have met or surpassed the global ENAP target, 11 of Nigeria’s 37 states record stillbirth rates even higher than the already-high national average.
Delta, Adamawa, and Oyo also stood out for the proportion of macerated stillbirths cases where the fetus dies in the womb and labor is delayed suggesting late detection or intervention failures.
Principal Investigator of the SPEED Project, Oghome Emembo, attributed the high rates to a mix of poor clinical management, socio-cultural barriers, and inadequate investment in maternal health.
She called for an urgent need for intensified behaviour change communication to improve attitudes toward antenatal care, enhance spousal involvement, and boost investments in healthcare services.
However, speaking on the milestones achieved during the implementation of the SPEED project, she said:
“One of our biggest wins, something we’re truly grateful for was getting all our policy recommendations approved by Prof. Mohammed Ali Pate. The first action he took was to authorise the inclusion of stillbirth data in the Ministry of Health’s quarterly reporting system.
This means stillbirth indicators are now part of the data presented to him regularly for planning and budgeting purposes.
Highlighting further progress, Emembo said “Another major achievement was securing the inclusion of stillbirth data on the dashboard in the Minister’s Office.”
She also noted the expansion of the Helping Babies Breathe programme to Zamfara State. Emembo said the initiative s a critical capacity-building effort aimed at equipping midwives and frontline health workers with the skills needed to resuscitate babies who are at risk of stillbirth.
She called for greater awareness and a collective commitment to improving data reporting and usage to prevent stillbirths in the country while expressing optimism that with these changes, the country will see a significant reduction in preventable stillbirths across the country.
For Nigeria to meet the ENAP target between 2027 and 2030, as projected by the SPEED team, the work must not stop. We must not normalise these losses. Stillbirths are largely preventable, and preventing them starts with recognising them, Emembo urged.
Also speaking at the meeting, the Assistant Director and IRCE Coordinator, Dr. Evaezi Okpokoro, highlighted the importance of learning from success stories. “What is Osun doing right? We need to unpack this and replicate it in places like Zamfara. Is it better training, infrastructure, or community awareness? We need to find out,” he said.
The study recommends a multisectoral approach anchored on state-specific interventions, especially in high-burden areas, replication of successful models from states like Osun and Ogun, continuous training for Skilled Birth Attendants (SBAs) and community-based communication and advocacy programs
One of the major revelations from the SPEED Project was the disconnect between data availability and its actual use in policy-making. Even though stillbirth data is collected and uploaded to the FMoH’s DHIS2 platform, its utilisation remains critically low. This gap is partly due to a lack of technical capacity, outdated digital infrastructure, and poor integration of community, secondary, and tertiary healthcare data.
