From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
A maternal and child health advocate, Mabel Adinya Ade, has challenged the belief that women are often responsible for primary or secondary infertility, particularly in young marriages.
Ade maintained that infertility could be caused by either of the couple or by no neither of them, hence the suggestion for constant and periodic medical examination, sincere discussion, without resort to blame or unnecessary pressure on the couple.
Ade, in a book she authored, entitled “Fruit of Pain”, documents the pains and frustrations women experienced by women in the cause of pregnancy and child birth.
Infertility in young marriages is often not the fault of the woman, hence she shouldn’t be bothered much or put under unnecessary pressure. Besides, women are losing pregnancies without knowing the reasons for that. But it could be for any reason, including ailments such as hypertension. I am hypertensive and I have had my experiences. We need to break the silence on these issues women face in the cause of pregnancy and child birth,’ she said.
‘I had run into women in villages and other rural communities who deliver babies on their way to farms, and had to pack them into my car or other means, and ran to hospital with them for proper care. I have had personal experiences losing so many pregnancies on the account of work or whatever reasons,’ she said.
‘Maternal and safe mother health issues is not a woman issue alone but a community responsibility, and everyone has to take it seriously because it can happen to anyone. The reason I authored this book is because of the need to document my years of experience and knowledge handling maternal issues. I wanted a material that generations unborn can reference to, for guidance and education on how to handle maternal issues.
‘I asked myself that, if I die today, how will I transfer the knowledge I had acquired to others. That desire made me to take the step of writing the book. I was unable to type the manuscript at some point, so I did voice recordings and sent to someone to help me type it. That was how I continued till I got to this point.
‘There’s need to create a space for women to express themselves. Many are facing mental health trauma. And it’s dealing with them in such a devastating and horrific way.’
Minister of Women Affairs Pauline Tallen, who spoke during public presentation of the book in Abuja, urged women to be active participants in developmental programmes that are crucial in their maternal health development.
Tallen solicited the support of men to ensure that women actualise their dreams and contribute to the growth of the country.
‘I want to see men supporting their wives in such matters. That is when we would see better homes. I encourage men to support the cause of what women go through,’ she said.
‘No word can describe the pain of child birth. If a woman describes the pain she undergoes during labour, no woman would go for a second child. But the moment she hears the cry of the child all the pain vanishes and the moment the child begins to crawl the woman begins to think of having another child.’
She commended the author of the book for her desire to share and document her wealth of knowledge and experience managing maternal and child care issues with generations unborn through the book.
The wife of Kebbi State Governor, Dr Aisha Atiku Bagudu, in her presentation urged Nigerian parents to encourage their girl child to engage in science and other relevant fields such as medicine to get acquainted with relevant knowledge and experiences.
Badugu called for more advocacy programmes for girls in the country, and equally threw her weight behind increased capacity development for girls in the country.
‘The more women we have to encourage the non educated ones, the more we change the index and encourage more girls in the field of science,’ the Kebbi First Lady said.
She suggested that social media should be used constructively to change cultural mindsets.