🩺
Stop Maternal Mortality
Countries🇳🇪Niger
WHO · UNICEF · UN IGME 2024← All Countries
🇳🇪
Maternal & Child Mortality
in Niger
West Africa · #7 of 30 worst globally
Child Deaths Since Jan 1, 2026
0
82 per 1,000 live births · Niger
Deaths at Birth Today
0
est. newborns today
Infant Mortality Rate
82.0
per 1,000 · 3.0× world avg
Maternal Mortality Rate
441
per 100,000 · 2.2× world avg
Flag of NigerWest Africa
Birth Mortality Crisis

Mothers & Newborns
Dying in Niger
During Childbirth

441 maternal deaths per 100,000. With a fertility rate of 6.9, the cumulative lifetime risk of maternal death reaches 1 in 25.

Newborn & Infant Mortality
82.0deaths per 1,000 live births
3.0× the world average
Maternal Mortality During Birth
441deaths per 100,000 live births
2.2× the world average
👶

Newborn & Child Deaths During Birth in Niger

Niger is the world's poorest country by GDP per capita. Malnutrition affects over 40% of children under five — one of the highest rates globally. Population is growing faster than health systems can expand.

Significant reductions 2000–2015 driven by malaria net distribution and ORS programmes. Progress stalled since 2019.

Leading Causes of Child Death at Birth
Malaria27%
Neonatal causes25%
Diarrhoea16%
Pneumonia14%
Other18%

* Neonatal deaths (first 28 days) represent the largest share of under-5 mortality.

What Happens in the Delivery Room
🏥
Births in a health facility~78%
estimated — lower in conflict/rural areas
👩‍⚕️
Skilled birth attendant present~37%
doctor, midwife or trained nurse
⚠️
Neonatal deaths (first 28 days)48%
of all under-5 deaths occur at birth
🩸
Most preventable with skilled care~75%
of child and maternal deaths
🤱

Maternal Mortality During Birth in Niger

Child marriage is virtually universal in parts of Niger — 76% of girls marry before 18. Early and closely-spaced pregnancies are major drivers of maternal death.

Modest improvement, but the absolute number of maternal deaths is rising because population growth outpaces the falling mortality rate.

Causes of Death During Labour & Delivery
Haemorrhage29%
Eclampsia21%
Sepsis17%
Obstructed labour15%
Anaemia10%
Other8%

* Haemorrhage and eclampsia together cause over 50% of deaths — both are treatable with basic skilled care.

Why Mothers Die at Birth Here
🩺
Emergency obstetric care availableLimited
few facilities can manage haemorrhage
🩸
Blood transfusion accessCritical gap
haemorrhage kills within 2 hours
💊
Magnesium sulphate (eclampsia)Often absent
costs $1 — saves lives instantly
If skilled care were universal~75% fewer deaths
WHO estimate for this mortality level
⚠️

Why Is This Still Happening?

Structural Barriers to Safe Birth in Niger
World's highest fertility rate (6.9)
World's highest child marriage rate — 76% before age 18
Extreme poverty — lowest GDP per capita globally
Sahel climate shocks causing recurring food crises
Jihadist expansion from Mali destabilising health access
🎯
SDG 3 Progress Assessment

Niger's combination of very high fertility and poverty makes it the most structurally challenged country for SDG 3 health targets.

💡
Prevention & Solutions

How Can We Prevent This in Niger?

📍 The Situation

Niger has the world's highest fertility rate (7.0 children per woman) and one of its youngest populations. The sheer volume of births — over 900,000 per year — in a country with minimal healthcare infrastructure creates an enormous burden that the existing health system cannot absorb. Over 80% of Niger's population lives in rural areas.

🔬 How Ultrasound Helps

With such high birth volume and low provider density, any technology that allows a single health worker to do more, see more, and act earlier has multiplied impact. Portable POCUS in Niger is most powerful as a triage tool — allowing a nurse at a rural health post to rapidly identify the 10–15% of pregnancies that carry high risk, ensuring those women reach a facility capable of managing complications.

🎓 The Training Gap

Niger's community health worker cadre is large and relatively well-organized. Introducing POCUS as a component of their toolkit — with training delivered through GUSI's online OB POCUS course accessible via mobile device — represents a scalable, affordable path to dramatically better antenatal screening coverage.

🩺
Global Ultrasound Institute · GUSI
The training that closes the gap exists today.

GUSI trains physicians, nurses, midwives, and community health workers in Point-of-Care Ultrasound — the technology that detects the conditions killing mothers and babies before they become emergencies. OB POCUS · Pediatric POCUS · Primary Care POCUS · Online & in-person.

What a trained provider can detect with a portable ultrasound device
🩸Placenta previa
🔄Malpresentation
👥Twin pregnancy
📉Fetal growth restriction
Pre-eclampsia markers
🫁Childhood pneumonia
💉Internal bleeding
🧠Hydrocephalus
🧮
Interactive Model

POCUS Impact Calculator — Niger

Model based on: 600 scans/provider/year · 15% high-risk detection rate · 47% mortality reduction for detected cases (Swanson et al. 2014 · WHO POCUS in LMICs review)
50
1 provider250500 providers
Scans per Year
30,000
pregnant women screened
High-Risk Detected
4,500
flagged for referral / intervention
Maternal Deaths Prevented
30
mothers saved per year
Newborn Deaths Prevented
66
babies saved per year
Total Lives Saved Per Year
96deaths prevented
1.9
lives per provider
$258
est. cost per life saved
$24,750
total training investment

* This calculator uses a conservative evidence-based model. Actual impact varies by deployment context, provider experience, and health system capacity. Training cost based on GUSI OB POCUS Essentials (~$495/provider). Mortality reduction from peer-reviewed POCUS implementation studies in low-resource settings.

Technology & Education

A Practical Plan to Bring POCUS to Niger

🗺️ Our Plan to Bring POCUS to Niger

Our goal is to partner with GUSI (Global Ultrasound Institute) and leading portable ultrasound manufacturers to place life-saving diagnostic tools directly in the hands of trained local providers across Niger — so that dangerous complications are caught early, not discovered too late.

  1. Start with the ground truth.Our plan begins by mapping what already exists — facilities, referral pathways, blood supply, and the midwives, nurses, and physicians who are closest to mothers at the moment of crisis.
  2. Train local champions through GUSI.We enrol a core group of local providers in GUSI's OB POCUS Essentials and Pediatric POCUS courses — then certify them to train others, so the knowledge multiplies without depending on outside experts indefinitely.
  3. Put the right device in the right hands.We partner with portable ultrasound brands — Butterfly iQ+, Philips Lumify, GE Vscan Air — to source devices suited to Niger's power infrastructure, connectivity, and budget. No unnecessary complexity, just what works in the field.
  4. Build a referral system around what the scan finds.A scan without a clear next step saves no one. Our plan defines exactly what to look for, which findings require immediate referral, and how to document everything at the point of care — so no warning sign is lost in translation.
  5. Sustain it through ongoing quality assurance.Regular image review sessions, outcomes tracking, and refresher training keep skills sharp and standards high — turning a one-time intervention into a durable change in how care is delivered.
📡 Recommended Portable Ultrasound Devices
🦋 Butterfly iQ+
Website →
Single-probe whole-body device covering OB, cardiac, lung, and FAST exams. App-based platform with built-in AI guidance. Designed for low-resource environments — charges via USB and works with any smartphone.
🔵 Philips Lumify
Website →
App-based probe that plugs into Android phones. Multiple transducer heads available for OB and point-of-care use. Widely used in GUSI-supported training programs globally.
🟢 GE Vscan Air
Website →
Wireless, pocket-sized dual-probe handheld. Streams live images to a smartphone app. Excellent battery life — purpose-built for rapid bedside OB and FAST-style assessments.
🔷 Clarius HD3
Website →
High-resolution wireless handheld. Multiple probe configurations available. Strong image quality in a compact form factor — suitable for OB, lung, and neonatal scanning.
Global Ultrasound Institute · GUSI

The training that closes the gap — built for providers in settings like Niger

GUSI trains physicians, nurses, midwives, and community health workers in Point-of-Care Ultrasound. Courses are designed from the ground up for providers in resource-limited settings — short, practical, competency-based, and available online or in person. Every course maps directly to the conditions killing mothers and babies during childbirth.

50+
Countries trained
OB · Peds · Emergency
POCUS specialties
Online + In-person
Flexible delivery
WHO-aligned
Curriculum standard
Available Courses
Online + hands-on
OB POCUS Essentials
The core obstetric ultrasound curriculum — fetal presentation, placenta location, amniotic fluid, gestational age, and fetal heart. Designed for physicians, nurses, and midwives with no prior ultrasound experience.
Learn more →
Online + hands-on
Pediatric POCUS
Point-of-care ultrasound for newborn and child emergencies — pneumonia, pneumothorax, cardiac tamponade, intussusception, and more. Critical for settings where neonatal and child mortality is highest.
Learn more →
Online + hands-on
FAST & Emergency POCUS
Focused Assessment with Sonography in Trauma — rapid detection of internal bleeding, haemothorax, and pericardial effusion. Life-saving in obstetric haemorrhage settings.
Learn more →
On-site program
Global Health Initiative
GUSI partners with hospitals, NGOs, and governments to deploy POCUS training at scale in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Latin America — including train-the-trainer models for local sustainability.
Learn more →