Giving Compass' Take:

• Adepeju Jaiyeoba and Temie Giwa-Tubosun are entrepreneurs who have created products to reduce the maternal mortality rate in Nigeria.

• How can philanthropy support social entrepreneurs like Jaiyeoba and Giwa-Tubosun? Can their products make an impact outside of Nigeria? 

• Learn about the SDG trajectories for maternal and child health.

As a result of inadequate health facilities and a lack of skilled personnel, 814 women will die for every 100,000 live births in Nigeria, according to a 2015 estimate from the World Health Organization.

Seven years ago, Jaiyeoba’s family friend opted to deliver her baby at Obafemi Awolowo University’s reputable teaching hospital in Southwestern Nigeria. But the young mother bled to death after a graduate doctor severed an artery while conducting a cesarean procedure and failed to take immediate action to repair it.

In response, Jaiyeoba, a lawyer by training, created a simple, low-cost Mother’s Delivery Kit targeted to low-income, rural communities who may not be able to afford institutional care or do not have access to any. This delivery kit helps community health workers and traditional birth attendants who are often the sole health care provider in rural areas to deliver babies safely and hygienically. The kit is currently distributed to rural communities in 30 out of Nigeria’s 36 states.

While Jaiyeoba is connecting women to the right care, Giwa-Tubosun is ensuring that care is competently equipped.

A political science graduate and a health manager who previously worked with WHO, in 2016 Giwa-Tubosun founded LifeBank, a digital bridge between public hospitals, private hospitals, and blood banks, based in Lagos.

Nigeria is the second largest contributor to the global maternal mortality rate — postpartum hemorrhage, or heavy bleeding after birth, accounts for 23 percent of these deaths according to the African Population and Health Research Center. LifeBank is a resource for hospitals and health centers to find blood in the exact type required and from a blood bank close to their location. It has been commonly described as an “Uber for blood” by the media. Even in ultra-urban centers, hospitals typically experience shortages in blood for transfusions to save a hemorrhaging woman.

Read the full article about maternal mortality in Nigeria by Ayodeji Rotinwa at Devex International Development.