Zamfara State is situated in the north-western of Nigeria and was carved out of Sokoto State on October 1st, 1996 with Gusau as its capital. The State is bordered to the North by Niger Republic, to the South by Kaduna State, to the east by Katsina State and to the West by Sokoto and Niger States. The State covers an area of 32,247 square kilometres, representing about 4% of the landmass of Nigeria. The state has 3 senatorial districts, 147 political wards and 14 Local Government Areas namely Anka, Bakura, Birnin Magaji, Bukkuyum, Bungudu, Damaturu, Gummi, Gusau, Kauran Namoda, Maradun, Maru, Shinkafi, Talata Mafara, Tsafe and Zurmi.

The State is ranked 18th out of 36 states and holds the 8th position as among the most populous states in Nigeria. Other reasons for the high maternal mortality in the State include low antenatal coverage, which is at 22.3% and delivery by skilled birth attendants and health facility based delivery rates are 22.3% and 5% respectively. For every thousand children born 176 will die within the age of five year. The leading causes of ill health and death in children are diarrheal diseases, malnutrition, malaria, respiratory tract infections and the communicable and six killer diseases.

As at 2014, the State has a projected population of 4,194,080 with male as 2,055,090 (49%) and female as 2,138,971 (51%) with an annual growth rate of 3.2%. The population of women of child bearing age between 15-49 years is 922,693 (22%), children under 1 year is 167,762 (4%), surviving infant is 155,180 (3.7%), under 5 years is 838,812 (20%), under 15 years is 1,996, 373 (47.6%) and pregnant women are 209,703 (5%). Like most parts of the North West, the health indices of Zamfara state is poo:. infant mortality rate is 101/1,000 live births, under 5 is 166/1,000 live births compared to national figures of 86/1,000 and 138/1,000 live births respectively; maternal mortality rate is 1,025/100,000 births [MICS 2007] compared to state result from Nahuche HDSS with 1,049/100,000 live births while the national average of 800/100,000 births. Reasons for the high maternal mortality in the State include low ante natal care with a coverage of 22.4% (NDHS 2013) and the fact that delivery by health professionals and facility based rates are 22.3% and 5% (NDHS 2013) respectively.