Africa

Vanessa ten-Kate
Kelly Gough
Meredith Morris

Women’s Health In Nigeria

1. Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa and yet it has very few numbers of health centers. Most health facilities are understaffed and undersupplied.
2. 50% of Nigerian women say that they are victims of domestic abuse
3. Women need their husband’s permission to seek medical care, therefore, many women needing medical attention may not receive due to their husbands.
4. Engender Health is working to provide women with better health options and strives to make motherhood safer and expand contraceptive options.
5. More than half of Nigeria’s population is under the age of 20 and they face particular challenged and health risks.
6. 40% of girls will give birth before they turn 18 and at least 24% of girls have an abortion sometime during their adolescence.
7. Girl from the ages of 15 to 24 are twice as likely to be HIV-positive. HIV is one of the biggest threats to Nigerian women.
8. In Nigeria, a woman has a one in 18 lifetime risk of dying from complications of childbirth.
9. Many women suffer venereal diseases because they keep silent from fear of castigation, rejection, and shaming.
10. Women are frequently exposed to health hazards, including unsterilized instruments.


Binta Ahmed was a 28 year old woman who had five children. She was pregnant with her 6th child and had no need to fear any complications. However, when she started labor in her home it was obvious something was wrong. It took 7 days of painful labor before she finally gave birth to a dead baby. This complicated labor left Binta in extremely poor health, however, the closest hospital took 2 days to reach. Binta suffered the long journey to the hospital and finally received some medical attention. Doctors diagnosed an obstetric fistula, an injury, where the pressures of childbirth leads to a hole - or fistula - between the bladder or rectum. Due to the condition she was in when she arrived to the hospital, the surgeons had to wait 3 months before operating on Binta. It took her several more months after the surgery to recover. One person described women with Binta’s condition as “dead women walking: physically, socially and psychologically. Many of them lose their babies in childbirth and have no hope of having another.” This story shows how the lack of competent and accessible medical facilities has a huge negative effect on the health of women in Nigeria.


Quote:
"Once a woman is married, she is expected to endure whatever she meets in her matrimonial home,"
-human rights group Amnesty International today.


Organizations working for change:
Amnesty International Today
Engender Health

Websites we like:
http://www.iheu.org/node/979

http://www.postcolonialweb.org/nigeria/contwomen.html