Legal Right to Maternal Health in Nigeria - Why Not?

Abstract

A key question facing maternal health in Nigeria is whether redress can be sought where a woman is unable to access necessary healthcare whether at a pre-pregnancy stage, pre-natal stage, during birth and after birth and suffers thereby. In other words, are the global commitments to improving maternal health in Nigeria of a sort that proper action can be founded on it by affected women for breach? Leaving aside considerations of financial capability to enforce the commitments, the answer to the above question is dependent on whether there is a legal right to maternal health in Nigeria. Accordingly, this paper argues that maternal health care is so fundamenmtal to the advancement of Nigeria and should be given the status of a right to compel adherence, by state actors, to the international commitments made to redress the poor state of maternal health in the country.

Keywords: maternal health, Nigeria, Right to Health, Legislation