MATERNAL HEALTH AND MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOAL (MDG) 5 IN NIGERIA: ANY CATALYTIC ROLE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS?

Despite Nigeria's ratification of virtually all human rights instruments recognizing health as a human right and endorsement of the Millennium Declaration, the state of maternal health in the country remains atrocious. That the country is not on pace to meet its obligations under Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 5 (to reduce the maternal mortality ratio (MMR) by three quarters in 2015, using 1990 as a base year, and achieve universal access to reproductive services) is no longer news. What is perhaps newsworthy, and that is because of their significance to repositioning the country on course toward the MDG, are three concerns, namely, the factors constraining progress to acceptable maternal health in the country; the interventions needed to reverse the status quo; and, finally, the question, whether and how human rights could play a catalytic role in the process. Addressing these concerns is the major objective of this paper.