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Background: According to the World Health Organization, maternal death is defined "death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and site of the pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management, but not from accidental or incidental causes." In an attempt to help reduce maternal death rates in Nigeria, woman are encouraged to seek proper treatment and give birth in healthcare facilities. However, due to the lack of constant electricity, there is little confidence about whether or not healthcare facilities can cope with the increasing demands of electrical energy in labor and delivery wards and operating rooms. I used my personal experience to gather information about the postpartum effects that the lack of electricity has in Nigeria. I traveled to Nigeria and used the opportunity to visit a clinic and see firsthand how the lack of electricity affected all aspects of care.
Findings: About 40% of the pregnant Nigerian women experience pregnancy related health problems during or after pregnancy and childbirth, with 15% estimated as suffering from serious or long-term complications (Mutihir, 2011). Night time deliveries take place in near darkness as a vast majority of primary healthcare facilities were unable to provide a constant electrical supply for basic emergency obstetric care services, such as cesarean section. In general, they lack the necessary staffing on maternal and neonatal wards (WHO bulletin, 2014).
Conclusions: In conclusion, the loss of electricity has a great impact on the maternal mortality rates in Nigeria. It not only impairs operations in surgical wards and delivery suites, but also the communication within staff members. It compromises the ability of healthcare workers to adequately provide safe and effective care. Labor and delivery nurses cannot notify physicians of emergencies. Without proper diagnostic tools, treatment decisions are made which can lead to death. The case study presented in this poster illustrates how the loss of electricity caused postpartum hemorrhage which ideally can be treated in proper hospital settings (We Care solar.org).