‘Choose’ your mother rightly and live

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Your Health

‘Choose’ your mother rightly and live

Written by Sade Oguntola Wednesday, 17 March 2010

Worldwide, every child has an inherent right to life and to enjoy the best attainable state of health. However, upholding this right is only possible when families, communities and government help unborn children choose their mothers by developing the potential of all girls to ensure the survival of their children, reports Sade Oguntola.

Empowering the girl-child makes her a better mother Sunday was Mother’s Day all over the world, a day set aside to recognise mothers, motherhood and maternal bonds in general, as well the positive contributions that they make to society. Although, “Mother’s Day” is celebrated on May 9th, 2009 in the United States of America and March 14th is the day set aside by the United Nations.

In Nigeria, the profile of the average Nigerian mother is a woman with little or no formal education; living in the rural area or in an urban slum where there is very little infrastructural facilities. She works as a petty trader, a subsistence farmer or an unskilled worker in industry or government establishment with very low income.

The average Nigerian woman has her first pregnancy before the age of 20 and continues to bear children into her forties. She delivers many babies but loses a good proportion of them before they reach the age of five due to preventable causes. She has poor health seeking behavior and indulges in many unsafe child care practices, such as force feeding.

She faces a lot of constraints; there are no social welfare services from the government, no labour-saving household appliances. She fetches her water, hues her wood, walks long distances or rides dangerously on commercial motorcycles, popularly called okada. She has no voice, has to seek the husband’s permission even to take the children to the clinic.

If indeed it were possible for a baby to choose his mother, who will the child choose? Who would be a good mother given the fact that this is central to the child’s survival?

Well, defining who a good mother is and the fact that government, husbands and the community can really help an unborn child to choose the right mother were the thrust of an inaugural lecture delivered by Professor Kikelomo Osinusi at the University of Ibadan.

The former president of Paediatric Association of Nigeria (PAN) stated “a good mother is one who is educated, that is, has, at least, sound secondary school education, empowered to contribute to family income if necessary and participate in decision making in the family, especially in matters affecting the health and well being of the children.”

She declared: ”The significance of educating a girl is summed up in the statement of Kofi Annan, immediate past Secretary- General of the United Nations, which stated that to educate a girl is to educate a whole family. And what is true of families is also true of communities and ultimately, whole countries. Various studies have taught us that there is no better and effective tool for development than the education of girls. No other policy is more likely to raise economic productivity, lower child and maternal mortality, improve nutrition and promote health. No other policy is as powerful in increasing chances of survival for the next generation.”

According to her, ”empowerment of mothers can successfully circumvent the barrier of access to important health interventions and reduce significantly, the risk of child death.”

What is the link between education, mothers and child survival? According to Professor Osinusi, “an educated and empowered mother will be able to maintain good health before and during pregnancy, ensure child delivery in the right place, maintain adequate sanitation, overcome all the barriers to access to preventive, health promotion and treatment interventions for her children and ensure their survival.”

Although, it may sound strange, it is possible to “choose your mother right and live” in a way. According to Professor Osinusi, “a mother can make a difference in whether or not a child is well nourished and how often he or she is ill. She can affect also the severity of illness, the health care that the child receives and the outcome of the illness. In effect, a mother can determine not only the survival but the quality of life of the child.”

Unfortunately, she declared that it was not possible for babies to choose their mothers, adding that the alternative is for families, communities and government to develop the potential of all girls to be good mothers by ensuring that girls are educated and empowered not only to be able to ensure the survival of their children, but also enhance the quality of their lives.”

While in Africa and other developing countries, children are very much desired and are regarded as priceless jewels, Professor Osinusi expressed concern that the premium placed on having children, however, was incongruous with the efforts made to ensure their survival.

In 1960, it was estimated that worldwide, about 20 million under-five children were dying annually. Over the 46 years between 1960 and 2006, important advances in intervention for improvement of child survival took place and these had led to a decrease in the number of child deaths from 20 million to about 9.7 million annually. But 50 per cent of the 9.7 million child deaths worldwide occur in only six countries, Nigeria inclusive.

Nonetheless in Nigeria, “Families seem very excited, in fact overjoyed with the birth of a child but do not seem to do enough to keep the child alive and in good health, as a result of ignorance, poverty or both,” she stated.

“Most of the deaths that occur in children under five years of age are from causes that are preventable or easily treatable such as diarrhea, pneumonia, malaria, measles and HIV/AIDS. Nutrition is very important in child survival. Although the severe forms of malnutrition have become less prevalent than in the past, the moderate and mild forms still persist. More than 50 per cent of all childhood deaths have under-nutrition as an associated cause of death.”

Professor Osinusi, pointing out that the synergistic interrelationship between poverty, ignorance, poor health, malnutrition and increased cases of death in children, declared, “A child born to a poor family is at risk of dying within a few days of birth of life or within the first month of life. If the child survives the first month of life, he is then exposed to increased risk of dying from malaria and diarrhoeal diseases due to poor living conditions, limited access to safe water, inadequate sanitation and malnutrition from household food insecurity or ignorance about good feeding practices. “

Although the government has the responsibility of providing heath care facilities and ensure equity in access to such facilities, “unfortunately, almost 50 years after independence, our government has not been able to remove this inequity,” she declared.

In order that Nigerian children may live, she urged the Nigerian government to enforce birth and death registration in order to know the magnitude of the problem; take education of girls more seriously; provide life-skills education in schools as well as expand facilities for antenatal care to make it physically accessible. In addition, all deliveries of babies should be by skilled birth attendants; routine immunisation strengthened, made easily available and free; as well as treatment for illnesses in children below the age of five years made free.