As ‘Merck More Than A Mother’ Campaign Debuts In Nigeria
There was serious outrage by many people across the world when the
news broke recently over a husband in Kenya who hacked his wife’s hands
off with a machete for failing to conceive after seven years of marriage
– though he was impotent.
Jackline Mwende was brutally slashed by her husband, Stephen Ngila,
34, at her home in Masii, Machakos County after he told her ‘Today is
your last day.’
Mwende, 27, was also left with horrific injuries to her head. The case had sparked outrage in Kenya.
Mwende who is now being supported by “Merck More than a Mother”
initiative to empower and enable her to become an independent productive
member in society throughout the rest of her life represent millions of
African women with similar tragedy.
Winifred (not real name) graduate, married in 2005 at the age of
27, to her seemingly heartthrob in Abuja, Nigeria’s Federal Capital
Territory (FCT). She engaged in various forms of petty-trading ranging
from selling soft-drinks, ice-blocks, moi-moi among others to support
her husband, Tony, an applicant then.
Ten years later, she was subjected to brutalising treatments by her
husband for failure to conceive. Tony, who later started working in a
blue-chip government parastatal, labelled Winifred all sorts of names,
and even accused her of being a witch that eats up the babies in her
womb.
Despite medical test confirmation that Tony was infertile, he
abandoned Winifred in the hospital after a tumour surgery, married a
second wife, fled from their home and moved into a new apartment in an
undisclosed area.
Similarly, Agnes Ubani, 29, after eight years of marriage with her
husband, Nath, both were based in Enugu state, East of Nigeria, lost
almost all her teeth and one eye to incessant battering from the later
because of failure to become pregnant.
There are millions of Nigerian women suffering various forms of
abusive for their inability to conceive. In most cases, it is for no
fault of theirs, even when their male partners could be impotent or
having other infertility problems.
A recent statistics by the World Health Organisation (WHO) says more
than 180 million couples (one in every four couples) in developing
countries suffer from primary or secondary infertility. WHO says
infertility in Africa is caused by infections in over 85 per cent women
compared to 33 per cent worldwide which emphasize the importance of
prevention programmes in Africa.
In view of this, the world’s foremost pharmaceutical and chemical
company, Merck, has launched the Nigerian version of “Merck More than a
Mother,” an initiative aimed at combating infertility and the
stigmatization associated with it in the country.
The launch which took place first in Lagos and then in Abuja, brought
together women leaders, policy makers, parliamentarians, academics,
fertility experts among others to chart the way forward towards
combating, identifying and implementing strategies to improve access to
effective, safe and regulated fertility care in Nigeria and to define
interventions to decrease social suffering arising from infertility and
childlessness.
Speaking at the launch, in Lagos, Chief Social Officer, Merck, Dr.
Rasha Kelej, said: “Merck More than a Mother” initiative is imperative
in Africa as the consequences of infertility are much more dramatic in
developing countries and can create more wide ranging social and
cultural problems compared to Western societies, particularly for women.
According to Kelej, “A central difficulty associated with infertility
is that it can transform from an acute, private distress into a harsh,
public stigma with complex and devastating consequences.
“In some cultures, childless women still suffer discrimination,
stigma and ostracism. An inability to have a child or to become pregnant
can result in being greatly isolated, disinherited or assaulted. This
may result in divorce or physical and psychological violence.
“Through the “Merck More than a Mother” initiative, all stakeholders
together including women leaders, policy makers, parliamentarians,
academia, fertility experts, community and media will challenge the
perception of infertile women.”
The Chairman, Senate Committee on Health, Sen. Lanre Tejuosho
confirmed: “It’s a fact that out of four Nigerian couples, we have a
couple with infertility challenges. This statistics means that
infertility needs urgent attention and we need to focus on how we can
make health institutions accessible for infertility management.
“Most importantly, there is a lot of stigma against women with
infertility challenges in Nigeria. We want to stop it. We also want to
increase the advocacy against the notion that it is only women that
suffer infertility.
“People must know that 50 per cent of infertility issues are caused
by men. We want to let the men to have the courage and also they must
come out together with their wives, to seek treatment and to ensure that
the focus on women must be directed accordingly, and not a misplaced
direction. So, it is more about awareness and education.”
Tejuosho announced: “Currently, there is an introduction in the
National Assembly, an Assisted Reproduction Technology Bill, to ensure
the law guiding technology of IVF, as well as fertility intervention and
surrogacy is well guarded, so that the owner of the sperm or the womb
will be the father or mother of the child and not the surrogate mother.”
Tejuosho added that there are also many other laws coming up that
will tackle the issues of inheritance for mothers that are childless or
have just females as children.
Similarly, infertility advocate and member Kenyan Parliament, Hon.
Joyce Lay disclosed that what inspired her to lead the campaign against
stigmatising women with infertility issues in Kenya and Africa was
because she had a personal experience, having had difficulty having a
child after she got married.
Lay said: “I was pregnant at an early stage, and going to give birth
in hospitals not equipped resulted to child birth complications for me.
Later on, I developed problems with my Fallopian tube and had to undergo
surgery. Later on, I had more complications which led to heavy
bleedings and closure of my cervix. This led to another surgery of
removing my womb.
“I couldn’t carry my child myself, so, when I got the opportunity to
get to the Kenyan parliament, I started advocating for education,
creation of awareness, prevention and treatment for infections.
“This is because most men and women with infertility issues are caused by untreated infectious diseases.
“So, lack of information, as well as lack of access to better medical
and healthcare services contributes largely to cases of infertility in
Africa. As a member of parliament, I discover in Africa, governments
commit funds in the budget for family planning programmes, but none for
infertility.
Also, the mind-engaging discussion at the launch saw as panelists the
Chairman, Senate Committee on Health, Sen. Lanre Tejuosho; member,
Parliament of Kenya, Hon. Joyce Lay; President, Nigeria Reproductive
Society, Dr. Faye Iketubosin; President, Africa Fertility Society (AFS)
Professor Oladapo Ashiru and former President, International Federation
of Fertility Societies (IFFS) Prof. Joe Simpson.
Others were the Head, Intercontinental Region, Merck, Yiannis
Vlontzos; President, North and West Africa, Merck; President, SOGON,
Prof. Brian Adinma; Secretary-General, SOGON, Dr. Chris Agboghoroma and
President, IFFS, Dr. Richard Kennedy; Dr. Karim Bendaou; Chief Social
Officer, Merck, Dr. Rasha Kelej and Commissioner for Health, Ogun State,
Dr. Tunde Ipaye.
Also, at the launch were Chairman, Garki General Hospital and Vice
Chairman, Nisa Fertility Hospital, Dr. Ibrahim Wada; Vice President,
Africa Fertility Society, Dr. James Olobo-Lalobo among others.
Meanwhile, as part of its efforts to take the advocacy message across
the country, Merck has also partnered with Future Assured, the
pet-project of wife of Senate President, Toyin Saraki. Recall that the
“Merck More than a Mother” campaign had successfully been launched in
Kenya, Uganda, among other sub-Saharan African countries.