Women's right to safe maternity care

As a Nigerian woman, I know first-hand the tragedy of women losing their lives to pregnancy-related complications (Comment, June 30). As an attorney who recently completed a report on the causes of nearly 60,000 women dying every year in Nigeria, I know it's time for us to move beyond the global promises to address maternal mortality and to start enforcing the legal human rights obligations already agreed upon in state constitutions and international treaties. Nigeria, for example, has adopted numerous policies that would reduce the high number of maternal deaths, but the government repeatedly fails to implement them.

If donor countries put pressure on Nigeria to allocate 15% of its annual budget to improve the health sector - as it pledged to do - then healthcare workers might actually get paid in a timely manner and not be compelled to demand "contributions" from their patients. If Nigerian citizens demanded that the government pass legislation forcing local authorities to prioritise their healthcare duties then women in labour might not be forced to ride on the backs of motorbikes to get to the hospital.
Onyema Afulukwe
Centre for Reproductive Rights, New York

Those of us dedicated to reducing maternal mortality are heartened by well-informed and passionate calls to action like Madeleine Bunting's. But we must remember that the tragedies of poor maternal healthcare are not limited to lives lost: thousands of women survive unsafe childbirths with devastating conditions like fistula, a result of prolonged and unattended labour. Accessing quality obstetric care to prevent maternal disability and mortality is a basic human right that every woman should be entitled to.
Ana Langer MD
President, Engender Health, New York