Delivering Care at the Hands of Crime: Exploring the Nexus of Security Concerns and Maternal & Child Mortality in Nigeria

From kidnapping for ransom to political corruption, Nigeria is a nation grappling with great insecurity. This has an impact on vulnerable populations, such as women and children. Few studies have documented the connection between insecurity and maternal and child mortality in Nigeria despite the rising number of kidnappings and other crimes in the last decade. In this paper, I identify the avenues through which security concerns detrimentally impact child and maternal mortality in Nigeria. I interviewed 10 Nigerian citizens to document the societal impact of growing crime and their opinions on governmental efforts in handling insecurity, maternal mortality, and child mortality. I also conducted an empirical analysis to reveal a strong, positive correlation between an insecurity proxy variable and maternal healthcare. From my qualitative interviews, I found that transportation, education, inadequate healthcare infrastructure/resources, and socioeconomic inequality were key intermediate factors that contributed to the vulnerability of women and children. Based on these findings, I recommend counseling for youth and women, macroeconomic reform, secure medical transportation, and lobbying as a way to incorporate the common Nigerian citizen into the nation's fight against mortality, particularly among mothers and children.