Maternal Morbidity and Causes of Maternal Death among Women of Childbearing Age in Sardauna Local Government Area, Taraba State, Nigeria

Abstract

Maternal morbidity and mortality remain major public health challenges in Nigeria, yet localised evidence from rural, highland communities is scarce. This study identified the types of emerging maternal morbidity affecting women and enumerated the causes of maternal deaths in Sardauna Local Government Area (LGA), Taraba State, Nigeria. A descriptive community - and facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted between January and May 2026 among 405 women of childbearing age (15-49 years) selected through multistage sampling across the 11 political wards. Data were collected with a structured questionnaire and analysed in IBM SPSS Statistics version 25 using frequencies, percentages and the chi-square test at the 0.05 level of significance. Overall, 322 respondents (79.5%) reported illness during pregnancy, delivery or within 42 days postpartum. The most frequent conditions were sepsis/infection (73.4%), severe anaemia (73.1%), HIV/AIDS-related complications (72.1%), hypertensive disorders (71.4%) and malaria in pregnancy (71.4%). Malaria was the leading reported cause of maternal death (21.2%), followed by obstructed labour (13.8%), haemorrhage (12.6%), hypertensive disorders (10.4%), anaemia (10.1%) and sepsis (9.6%). Deaths occurred during pregnancy (37.8%), labour (36.0%) and the postpartum period (26.2%), with 61.2% occurring at home or on the way to a health facility. Socio-demographic factors were not significantly associated with morbidity (χ² = 5.281, df = 6, p = 0.508). Maternal ill-health in Sardauna LGA reflects a combined burden of infectious disease, anaemia, hypertension and obstetric emergencies. Strengthening antenatal care, malaria and anaemia control, emergency obstetric services and maternal death surveillance is urgently needed.