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Tag: child

  • Abuse of the girl child Different shades, perpetrators and health implications

    For normal reproductive  life, a woman must have normal developmental milestones, which must necessarily begin in the girl child;  for an example, the first menstrual flow requires a body weight of 40kg or more. Though early menses may not be regular , it steadies as the girl child grows into maturity and in good health as defined earlier, so that  any deviations from an established normal pattern can be better understood and explained.  Lack of regularity developing within the normal reproductive age can then be used as a diagnostic aid . Children born into happy homes, with adequate nutrition tend to  have  the first menses occurring within  a range of  time period considered normal. They also tend to have less troublesome issues with menses compared with children who are obese, undernourished or malnourished.

    When  well nourished, stress free young cycling teenagers of the same age are kept together in the same apartment or  Hostel for some time, they tend to have menses coming about  the same time . Stress arising from physical, social or emotional trauma apart from being diabetogenic also places more cholesterol in the pathways for the biosynthesis of the female hormones, particularly estrogen. More estrogen than necessary at a particular time for the girl child is capable of evoking stimuli  that will force responses out of her which she may not have the capacity to control .  Stressful conditions  also have a way of weakening the immune system and reducing the ability of  the individual to fight infections. It is therefore more likely for the girl child in persistent situations of sexual abuse to die from infections  compared with older women facing similar challenges.

    Examine the policy that is currently in place in many of the Federal Government owned secondary schools where parents are not  informed that a child  is ill and on admission at the Sick Bay until the illness gets  beyond the capacity of the Medical team  employed by the School. One wonders if the relevant authorities have paused  to consider  the fact that some certain disease conditions do not give the patient  time to become ill ;that by the time it is finally understood that a disease or illness is beyond the professional competence of the managing  medical team an affected Child will have reached the point where her conditions are no longer reversible

    How did it all begin?  Why would any one imagine that a secondary school teenager who happens to know the symptoms and signs of early pregnancy will decide  to confide in the  Nurse  at the Sick bay in preference to her mother?

    In the  present arrangement of policies, rules and regulations,  most if not all the schools and colleges where our young girls are kept are  modified , glorified and regimented correction centres . In the  passion  to get the best out of these children and position them for better life, we have  failed to take into consideration, the  need to establish a routine  health check and  balance system that should be reviewed from time to time ,and in accordance with the School Health programme .

    Cases of child abuse occurring in schools and colleges remain untold until ten twenty and thirty years later, in some cases, victims die and are buried with their secrets

    By keeping them caged, with limited access to communication with their parents except visiting days, substantial periods of the life of the  growing and developing girl child are spent with people about whom the children know but very little.

    As the world  burns and conflicts spread like wild fire burning in the Harmattan period, the girl child is at the greatest risk with little or no room to negotiate herself out of conditions that are clearly unsafe and unfavourable for  health . Many will agree that when families are small, quality of life is better for the girl child for the simple reason that Mom and Dad will want to hold and to cherish .However ,even in polygamous families, every child wants to be loved and cherished ,to belong and appreciated, and out of sight is never out of mind.  Studies have shown that  whether  a family is polygamous or not, the girl child demonstrates unalloyed taciturnity, love and understanding. She sees her father in her  male teacher and her mother in her female teacher . This is the normal expectation. There are exceptions of course , but these are rare .  It is therefore natural that outside the family system, patterns of behaviour of the girl child can be used as an instrument to measure the degree of family cohesion available for the child to enjoy and vice versa . And so depending on the source of abuse,  an abused child is likely to grow up and become an abuser either in the family she will build or  the family she is born into.

    Under the conditions forced upon families by wars and conflicts, the girl child  within the families of internally displaced persons finds herself vulnerable to physical and sexual abuse even from members of the extended family.   Outside that, conditions that cause the girl child to lose one or both parents catapults the girl child into sudden poverty, with little or no capacity to escape physical abuse (including sex abuse) and negotiate for safe or safer sex

    A young woman took a nine year old  girl to the  Children emergency room of  a busy government hospital  crying effortlessly . She appeared exhausted  and barely able to stand  without support . Whereas the  young lady; later identified as  her Step Mom claimed she  fell down from  a tree  and fainted  , there  were scars  distributed asymmetrically on the  left  side of the body of this  girl .  The back regions of her arms and fore arms  showed  well marked healing stripes .  As soon as she was left alone  with the Nurses, she asked to be given something to eat .

    The situation just described is probably an example  of the physical form of child abuse .

    Long periods of separation from siblings ,mom and Dad  have their own independent effects on the girl child. Any forms of abuse by way of verbal, physical ,emotional and psychological insults serve to weaken the ability of the girl child to resist abnormal temptations, either internally or externally generated.  Compared with an adult of the same sex, the brain of the growing child is not as stereognostic. However, it is  likely to accommodate a mental diary of with a larger volume , to absorb and retain for longer time periods.

    As will have been known by many, to be in good health is not the absence of  infirmity or disease conditions, but a state of COMPLETE  physical , social and emotional well being.  Depending on the type, nature and duration, an abused child finds herself fighting to maintain emotional balance throughout life. If she grew up in an environment where she was persistently shouted down, and never allowed to express her self , she is likely to grow up timid and afraid of every move she makes.  On the other hand if she was forced to keep secrets as a result of incidents or activities forced on her, she is likely to grow up confused, with guilt, intra psychic conflicts and thought broadcasts . It is also important to note that depending on   particular circumstances, explosive types of behaviour, suicidal ideation and actual suicide are more likely to arise or develop in a girl child that has suffered  or continues to suffer abuse.

  • Abuse of the girl child Different shades, perpetrators and health implications

    Abuse of the girl child Different shades, perpetrators and health implications

    Sixteen year old Omonsiegho(not her real name), an SS3 girl  in a mixed sex Boarding School was  asked to stand on her desk ; her offence? Not paying attention . For the rest of that class, the  punisher; a middle aged, unmarried ‘Geography Teacher’ ignored her pains ,suffering and tears as she shifted weight from one lower limb to the other , seeking any position that will reduce her pain and  give her some comfort . A few days later, Omonsiegho was called out to the front of her class and asked to sit on the floor .The rivulets of tears as she tried to express her innocence were made irrelevant by the relentless instructions and counter instructions shot at her to stand, sit, move away, and lie down .The old ‘angel and arch angel of Geography as he was often referred to, and  whose  selective notoriety the School Authorities seemed resigned to put up with was  at it again. The young girl went through emotional trauma she alone can truly describe, as she tried to make sense of it all . The questions on the minds of many of the boys and girls  who may have watched several episodes of this type of behaviour from the Geography teacher  may not be too difficult to imagine  ;  many of them would have liked  to know if  he would  do this to his own biological daughter if she did  whatever. As it turned out following investigations, the Geography teacher was in the habit of coming down hard on female students, and especially the bright and beautiful ones .It was his way of softening them up before launching attacks. He was  however  friendly with the boys and always ready to assist them ,even financially.

    If one might ask; is there something fundamentally different  between people who have willingly gone through  the God given  process  of reproducing themselves and those  who have not or are unwilling to do so? Considering that the human mind is the most complicated and unpredictable entity known to man, how do you tell which Classroom teacher is capable or incapable of doing what ,when it comes to  health of School  children and child abuse?

    Mr Geography teacher is using the persistent physical and emotional abuse of  Omonsiegho as a way of getting something he alone badly wants? How many other young girls have gone through similar experience? Can Omonsiegho find the peace of mind to read her books in the prevailing conditions?

    Child abuse comes in as many shades as can be imagined .  In majority of cases and for those cases involving sex, the perpetrators are not people you very readily suspect;

    Commonly  under continuous subordination, senior  students  may subject   junior others to various forms of abuse .

    Teachers at the top  may engage in all sorts of inappropriate behaviour if they find themselves in positions of absolute power ,where no one cares

    There have been  well documented cases of heads of religious organizations sexually abusing  daughters  and  their mothers among  their followers, doing so  for years without  any one daring to cry out about the  evil acts. Where such followers are regarded as mere numbers, physical abuse may take many forms  including excessive chores, whiplashing , shaking , pinching and kicking

    Cases involving  Moms  and Step Daughters have also been followed where  the girl child is starved  , placed on long periods of starvation diet or low quality diets for refusing to get involved in abnormal or  inappropriate sexual relationship with the woman she calls mother

    Uncles, Aunties , care takers and care givers who are deviant and yet see nothing wrong with their brains  have in several studies been found to  subject children kept in their care to different forms of abuse including those which place sexual health and reproductive career of the girl child in jeopardy.

    There  is indeed  a possibility no matter how remote, that  in those situations  where fathers are said to have  forced themselves on their daughters, they are not the biological or true parents of the girls involved. It is the opinion of  experts in DNA research that only women know the biological fathers of their kids, as most first born children do not belong to the men who claim them.

    When the cat is away , the mice play  without ceasing ;incestuous relationships are more likely to be common in polygamous and polyandrous relationships as well as those involving single parenthood where multiple partnering is the norm. In the study by this writer and late Dr George Chinyere Uzor, the researchers were surprised to observe that family heads were frequently in support and  at times pressed on to suggest it . The girl child in these settings  apart from the risk of growing up to be a disjointed  woman also suffers physical  and  other forms of abuse . If the language she understands is vulgar, crude and harsh, such will be her best way of expressing her self as she grows up with a character and an attitude. Whereas she sees nothing wrong in getting into quarrels and with the  free use of verbal invectives, accepting own faults and the use of words like ‘sorry’ may be strange to her. The researchers observed that religion,  level of education,  socioeconomic status  culture  and inability of Governments to give legal backing to the Child rights act were among the  important factors which influenced abuse of the  Nigerian girl child.

    It is  important to remind readers and stake holders in the educational sector particularly at the primary and  secondary school levels, something only very little about  how  the  strict rules and regulations in many of these schools and the ways and methods  they are applied place  majority of the female pupils and students  in these schools at very high risks of child abuse , including sexual forms of child abuse.  Unless the relevant authorities are constantly at alert and are able to maintain vigilance even during unguarded hours, loads of abuse can go on under the cover of darkness and with people least expected to be involved. Shame and pride will battle themselves within the abused child to prevent her from reporting any  such activities. Beyond that, there will always be  the fear  on the side of the abused child that she will end up being the one to get the blame . Moreover, she will have been warned  to expect  unpleasant consequences if she told any one any thing.  After all , students are usually not represented at meetings of Parents and Teachers’ Association.

    We should also realize that it is not only in Catholic schools that  young boys get abused by Priests and Holy Fathers for long periods of time without any one doing anything. Deviant patterns of behaviour are now being forced on children in secondary schools all over the globe By many standards, females have higher capacity for stress management and have demonstrated higher reserve with regards to practical coping device and ability to keep it inside, but girls mostly are at the receiving ends and would rather suffer in silence than tell .When a woman wants to tell, she is likely to tell it all, but when she chooses not to tell, she tells nothing to no one.  If similar abuses are being  perpetuated  by women of the same faith, no one will know until some one tells , which  as is the pattern with the males usually takes decades. What if routine psychotherapeutic checks were carried out in these schools, would it have helped to reduce  the  number of victims and the length of time the abuse lasted? We may never know . What must be emphasised is that  in  many of  the secondary schools and colleges in the world today, including my country, Nigeria,  there is need to  seriously sit back and  ask  if  some persons who have been entrusted with positions of responsibility  are not regularly taking advantage of some certain policies, regulations and rules meant to keep the girl child away from falling into the province of abnormal and dangerous  life style, to actually do more to cause more damage   in respect of her physical ,emotional and sexual health.

  • Girl child education, key to national development

    The Executive Director, Women Protection Organisation (WOPO), Mrs Oluwatoyin Towobola, has called for the education of the girl child, saying, this is crucial to national development.

    Speaking at a programme organised by WOPO in conjunction with Schools Based Management Committee (SBMC), Mrs Towobola said there is need for more sensitisation and enlightenment programmes to educate the public on the need to give priority to girl child education. A nation that neglects the education of the girl child is heading for peril, Towobola warned.

    She called on all to see the education of the girl child as a priority, saying there is need to work more against their violence.

    “Education is very important because when you train a child, you have trained a nation. We also believe that training a child will boost the economy of the nation,” she said.

    While praising governments’ effort at giving the girl child the right to education, Mrs Towobola noted that government alone cannot do it hence the reason for her organisation’s decision to come in to assist.

    “The government is trying but it is obvious that they cannot do it alone; that is why we took it upon ourselves to help. We also call on well-meaning Nigerians to come to our aid in the struggle to give the girl child the right education,” she said.

    Director of Community Engagement Unit Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Mrs Adebodun Dosunmu, said girl child education is not negotiable, adding the girl as the pillar of the society.

    “It is the girl that develops into a woman, so there is need for her to be taken care of and given proper education. When this happens she will be able to take care of herself and the society at large,” she said.

    Dosunmu called on the community to take precise actions when any child is abused in their communities and report such case to the appropriate authority.

    The guest speaker, President, Old Students Association Methodist Girls High School Yaba, Mrs Yomi Afolabi, said education is not limited to school work.

    “Education is not limited to school work; it is about what they (girls) can know and what they should know about how to protect themselves against abuse,” she said.

    She blamed the violence and abuse of young girls on parents’s lack of attention to the victims’ plights and partly on the girl for lack of knowledge on how to defend herself.

    “Negligence from the parents is one of the major causes of abuse on the girl; it is also from the girls because they lack the knowledge of what to do in the face of abuse and violence,” she said.

     

  • Traditional teaching hinders early child education objectives

    Traditional teaching hinders early child education objectives

    The failure of teachers and schools to follow the Early Child Care and Primary Education (ECCE) curriculum designed by the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) would continue to affect its objectives which are contained in the National Policy on Education (2004).

    The traditional approach is still prevalent because it fits into teachers’ memory on one hand, and aligns with the cultural view of what a school is, says Ademuyiwa Ashimolowo of the School of ECCE Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education Oto/Ijanikin, Lagos.

    Ashimolowo said this while delivering the second annual departmental lecture of the ECCE Department, College of Education Agbor, Delta State.

    Speaking on the theme, ‘Early childhood care and education: Perceptions and realities,’ Ashimolowo said of the eight objectives, “teaching the rudiments of numbers, letters, colours, shapes, forms etc through play” appears to be most emphasised by teachers, while the others, including “effecting a smooth transition from the home to school; preparing the child for the primary level of education; inculcating social norms; and developing a sense of cooperation and team spirit,” are neglected.

    “The reality today is that if objectives 1-7 are not achieved in the pre-school classes, it might be difficult to achieve them in future,” said Ashimolowo.

    Aligning with NPE recommendations, the Nigeria Education Research and Development Council (NERDC), Ashimolowo explained, has patterned the curriculum to address all the objectives.

    However, Ashimolowo lamented that only a few schools either have or use the curriculum while others apply curriculums of their choices which often emphasise learning of alphabets and memorising of multiplication table. To further compound the problem, parents also use this to appraise their wards’ effectiveness.

    “Coming from the parental perception of quality, the school owners have no choice than to abandon NERDC curriculum which is all encompassing, to place emphasis on learning by memorisation since that is what parents perceived as quality.

    “The reality of this is clear: the school is transmitting set of content that can always be learnt later and not teaching those content and life wide and lifelong skills that may be very difficult to learn later.  Addition, subtraction, reading, writing and counting can be learned any time but tolerance, cooperation, spirit of inquiry, turn taking etc, may be difficult to learn after the pre-school window closes,” he added.

    Even if it is to limit it to the eight objectives of NPE, Ashimolowo said this mode of teaching (play) is not evident in most pre-school classes. He said most teachers are not qualified to master the play method as they do not have specilaisation in ECCE even if they have NCE certificates.

    “Lecturers in colleges of education rarely teach with instructional materials and the major method of teaching at that level is the lecture method. A pre-service teacher caregiver that has never been taught through the use of play-way method might find it difficult teaching children with the same method upon graduation.

    “Toys are also an integral part of the play-way approach but schools provide toys for children for recreation and not for instructional purposes. The mother tongue and language of immediate environment is another method recommended by NPE but the reality is that, parents prefer their children to acquire the official language or L2 early. Parents perceive this early learning of English language through phonics as giving their children a head start,” Ashimolowo said.

     

  • Aisha Buhari pledges support for girl child education

    Aisha Buhari pledges support for girl child education

    Wife of the President, Hajiya Aisha Buhari, has pledged her support for girl child education in the country.

    She said she would support all efforts aimed at improving the standard of education in Nigeria, especially that of the girl child.

    Hajiya Buhari has also urged Nigerian children to embrace education to enhance the quality of their lives and promote national development.

    She stated this yesterday in Abuja during her visit to  Army Day Secondary School, Mambila Barracks, Abuja, where she advised the students to take their studies seriously.

    Hajiya Buahri, who was in the school to participate in teaching and learning activities, said the President Muhammadu Buhari Administrations was committed to improving the quality of education in country.

    She said without adequate education of the younger generation, the future of the country would not be bright, adding that the quality of education children receive determines the future of any nation.

    She recalled that she got married after her secondary education and the quest for further knowledge propelled her to acquire a Masters’ degree through the support and assistance of her husband.

    Hajiya Buhari advised parents and guardians not to thwart the zeal of their children and wards, particularly the female children in acquiring formal education.

    Earlier, welcoming the wife of the President, the FCT Permanent Secretary, Engr. John Obinna Chukwu, commended her for her initiative and for choosing one of the FCT schools for her first visit.

    Engr. Chukwu described the visit as motivational and said that it would encourage the students to aspire towards achieving academic excellence.

  • Gombe to improve maternal, child health

    Disturbed by infant and maternal mortality statistics, Gombe State has declared its intention to strengthen the health system in order to improve the survival indices of women and children in the state.

    Executive Secretary of the State Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr. Ahmed Gana made the commitment yesterday during the opening of a two-day meeting organised by Evidence for Action (E4A) to build the capacity of stakeholders in the state’s health sector.

    Gana decried the rising number of women and children who die in avoidable circumstances while promising government’s support and partnership in ensuring great improvement in maternal and child healthcare.

    “Government is determined to ensure that this situation is reversed; we are going to encourage this platform (E4A) to open up our health facilities because we are transparent and accountable.”

    “They (E4A) will be encouraged to come and see all that we have on ground in terms of our plans, budgets, our activities and even our challenges and limitations.”

    The National Coordinator of E4A, Aminu Magashi Garba said the training/meeting was aimed at forming a platform of the civil society, NGO’s and media that will enhance an accountability mechanism on budgeting system and advocacy on issues related to women and children.

    He said the platform’s advocacy would centre on timely release of funds, proper budgeting and tracking of budgets, among many others.

    He called for the cooperation of all stakeholders, especially government, in ensuring that the platform’s objectives are realised.

     

  • Couples advised on child spacing

    Ekiti State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Olurotimi Ojo has advised couples to embrace family planning and adopt child-spacing to guarantee healthy living.

    Speaking against the backdrop of what he described as an alarming spate of cases of abandoned babies in government hospitals in the country, Dr. Ojo stressed that proper family planning and child spacing would not only reduce the incessant cases of child abandonment but will also ensure a manageable and healthy family.

    The commissioner emphasised the need for families to have sizeable number of children they could cater for, saying that having too many children than could be reasonably managed may lead to poverty, hunger, hooliganism, prostitution, robbery and other social vices.

    Ojo said parents must care and protect their children, especially the girl-child, noting that failure to do so may lead to teenage pregnancy. He cautioned youths, particularly school age girls, against waywardness, warning that, apart from poverty, pleasure seeking and waywardness also lead to unwanted pregnancy with the attendant menace of child abandonment.

  • CHI, Tetra collaborate on child malnutrition

    CHI, Tetra collaborate on child malnutrition

    CHI Limited, one Nigeria’s leading producer of high quality fruit juice, dairy and snacks products, will join hands with Tetra Pak, a global leading food processing and packaging solutions’ company, to explore opportunities for feasible food & beverage solutions in an effort to fight malnutrition amongst children in Nigeria.

    CHI is one of the largest partners of Tetra Pak in Africa employing many of its packaging solutions to serve safe, innovative and environmentally friendly products to her customers across the country.

    As part of efforts to alleviate malnutrition among the country’s children, the joint initiative between CHI Limited & Tetra Pak will develop feasible solutions for providing healthy nourishment for Nigerian children. To achieve this, the companies will undertake an in-depth assessment of the ground realities of the nutritional requirements and the need gaps specific to children in Nigeria. This partnership will provide a platform for the involvement of relevant major stakeholders, institutes, governmental and non-governmental organizations for the delivery of nutrition solutions to the Nigerian children.

    Chairman of Chi Limited (the flagship company of the TGI Group), Mr. C G Vink, noted that “Child nutrition is important to our country’s future and being a proudly Nigerian company, we are committed to putting in our best to the building and shaping a healthy and brighter Nigeria.”

    Mr Dennis Jönsson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Tetra Pak, said “Tetra Pak has partnered with governments, customers and other public and private partners to support school feeding programmes around the world for more than 50 years, promoting children’s right to nutrition, health and education as well as helping to build the demand for locally produced and processed products.  We are happy to have formed a strong partnership with Chi in Nigeria.”

    According to the 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey, up to 80 percent of Nigerian children suffer from nutrition deficiencies, particularly from Iron, Zinc and vitamins. This leads to slower brain development, concentration issues, a weak immune system and underdevelopment of memory, vision and hearing. Investments in education are significantly undermined if children are not nourished properly. According to the same survey, over one third of Nigerian children are malnourished to the extent that their physical growth is measurably reduced compared to children in peer countries. A case in reference, according to various available statistics from UNESCO, EU, FAO etc, as many as 11 million children in Nigeria are suffering from stunted growth occasioned by chronic malnutrition.

  • Pregnancy: How to get a healthy mother and child

    The outcome of a planned and desirable pregnancy is a healthy mother and baby.

    Nevertheless, most of the necessary steps to be taken that will ultimately lead to a happy outcome rest squarely with the pregnant woman or woman desiring to be pregnant, her husband and healthcare professionals.

    Steps to take should include:

    • Eat balanced diet

    • Avoid exposure to infections and treat or control all forms of infections (common cold, herpes, chest infections, stomach, food, urine, vagina, HIV infections. See our previous articles on this).

    c) Avoid exposure to excessive radiations. Radiation may kill or deform the baby.

    d) Have adequate and appropriate vitamins and minerals (folic acid, vitamins and iron if not enough is taken in the diet).

    e) Avoid exposure to illegal drugs such as cannabis, alcohol, chemicals and non-prescribed medications. They may damage the cells and your baby.

    Time is everything. While individual situations differ, the ideal age bracket, for the woman, to have children is between 20-35 years. While, pregnancy is possible at the extremes and beyond the quoted age bracket, there are higher risks in having babies, with such pregnancies at extreme age brackets.

    Example: Chances of Down’s syndrome is much higher at age of 40 than at 30 years.

    B. Have all forms of infections and illnesses, detected and treated or be put under proper medical control. HIV, High blood pressure, diabetic mellitus, and thyroid problems must be treated and or controlled. Otherwise, they may cause you and the baby serious problems.

    C. The woman will need to get vaccinated against some infections (for example, tetanus depending on the country where you live) if you have not done so in pre-pregnancy (rubella, chicken-pox, tuberculosis, hepatitis B and C). Preferably, all vaccinations should be done before pregnancy.

    D. During pregnancy, be vigilant to your baby movements from 16 weeks onwards. Note any reduction in or excessive movements of the baby. It may be a sign of distress.

    Report to your carer or doctor immediately: if there is any reduction in foetal movement or if there are excessive movements.

    Also, are you feeling unwell? Report it now to your nurses/midwife or doctor no matter how mundane the illness may be.

    The birth

    We must remember that the process of birth is the most dangerous journey anyone coming through the birth canal can ever undertake. Apart from the pain of labour, that the woman experiences, the baby is hugely at risk too. The risks include physical injuries from pressure of labour through the narrow birth (vagina) canal. Others are chemical injuries to the brain from inadequate supply of oxygen to the brain, possible blockage of wind pipe from aspirations of the birth materials. Bleeding from possible injuries sustained by the baby during birth may lead to brain and organ impairment. Excessive bleeding during birth, by the mother may affect the baby too as it may starve the baby of needed oxygen and food. Brain damage may therefore result from inadequate oxygen. All these may either cut short the life of the baby and the mother or reduce either person’s life span.

    All these require planning and vigilance by both the doctors and the care receiver — you!

    For example, if oxygen had been inadequately supplied to the baby before or during birth or shortly after birth, there may be brain damage and this may lead to seizures later in life which in turn reduces the quality of life of the person. Seizure may also lead to early death, thus defeating the lofty objective of healthy living ideals. If the baby has been exposed to dangerous substances (cocaine, cannabis, alcohol) while in the womb, and before birth, this may determine the quality of life that the baby may lead later on in life.

    The child may not grow properly, brain may be damaged and his personality may suffer.

    The life span may also be reduced as a result of poor delivery even if delivered by surgical intervention.

    The main things that parents can do are:

    • Ensure preventive measure is in place even before pregnancy occurs

    • Get screened for any preventable illness (infections such as HIV, for example) before pregnancy:

    Any defects that may affect you or the baby.

    • Get screened for genetic diseases (cystic fibrosis, sickle cell) before pregnancy. This will help the individual to determine if passing such diseases to others is worthwhile.

    • Be alert to risks or dangers that may harm the baby during pregnancy such as maternal falls and physical trauma.

    • Be alert to dangers of radiation, chemotherapy, strong magnetic fields, illegal substances, cigarette/nicotine, alcohol and so forth.

    • Be alert to deficiencies of vitamins and minerals.

    •Be alert to dangers at birth time (during labour). The professionals will be very vigilant on this however.

    As a parent, be even more vigilant too. Professionals are humans. Error does occur.

  • Boost for child rights in Rivers

    The General Manager of the Rivers State Broadcasting Corporation, Medline Tador, has urged parents to help end child marriage.

    Tador, who lamented that Africa has the second highest rate of child marriage in the world after South Asia, reiterated  that it was time all stakeholders came together to fight the menace.

    She spoke at an event to mark this year’s “Day of the African Child”; an annual event organised by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), to draw attention to the plight of African children.

    She spoke on the theme: “25 Years After the Adoption of the African Children’s Charter: Accelerating Our Collective Efforts to End Child Marriage” at Abonnema, Akuku- Toru Local Government Area of Rivers State.

    Represented by the Director of Production, Constance Amaehule, the General Manager reminded community leaders, traditional and religious organisations, parents and the school of their roles in the fight against early marriage.

    She advocated the use of jingles and drama in radio and television houses to highlight its negative effects, and reaffirmed the commitment of Radio Rivers in assisting UNICEF in its health advocacy programmes.

    In a remark, the Acting Education Supervisor in Akuku- Toru LGA, Sukubo Nath-Obu, enjoined all to come together to end the practice of early child marriage because it is not good development.

    He said that the council would continue to join resources with UNICEF in the crusade against early child marriage, and thanked the organisers for holding this year’s celebration in the area.

    The two day event featured art competition and drama presentation by the participating schools to drive home the negative effects of early child marriage.

    Also, the General Manager of Rivers State Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (RUWASSA), Chibunma Kakada,  identified poor access to good and safe drinking water and poor toilet facilities as some of the challenges facing the girl child.