The United Nations Population Fund estimates there could be up to 276,000 pregnancies among women displaced in the north east by Boko Haram crisis in 2017.
UNPF has also called for urgent protection of their reproductive health and rights.
The fund said nearly 53 out of all people internally displaced across the most affected states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa are women and girls and 1.73 million of them are of child bearing age.
Dr Babatunde Osotimehin, UNFPA’s executive director said: “Our aim is to redouble efforts to ensure that their rights to access health care is protected and the Government have all the support they need to overcome overwhelming challenges.”
Osotimehin and Aisha Alhassan, the women affairs minister undertook a joint mission to the north east to advocate for the reproductive health and rights of women and girls, and to closely align UNFPA support with domestic programmes and priorities.
The Fund raised concern amidst statistics that one Nigerian woman could die every 10 minutes from pregnancy-related conditions, insisting the deaths could be prevented if women and girls have access to education and reproductive health services,
Risk of death is heightened in humanitarian crises that displace populations and undermine community social support mechanisms, limiting access to health facilities and workers to take care of women’s and girls’ special needs, said the Fund.
Following meetings, Kaduna, Kano and Borno state governments have vowed to improve the future for girls.
Kano state governor Abdullahi Ganduje pledged to initiate steps to end early marriage, legally setting the age of marriage at 18 and ensure that girls stayed in school.
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