Respect for Autonomy: Women do not have the right to access healthcare services in the absence of their husband. DO YOU AGREE?

 I found it very fascinating when I visited some of the primary care facilities in Kano State Nigeria to see how the members of the communities were very involved in supporting women and children in the communities to access healthcare services. This partnership should be encourage to help in our intervention in reducing the maternal mortality in line with the SDG goals in the country.

I had firsthand experience as I interviewed some of the members of the community who shared various experiences on how they have supported women in emergency situation to access healthcare services- Most touching for me is that in some cases, they use their personal fund to assist these women in their community.

Just to highlight few of their interventions;

One of them narrated how many pregnant women in his community do not like to visit the government health facility but due to interventions from different implementing partners who built their capacity on quality of care, the team came together and started providing orientation to the women and their husbands in the community.  They sensitize the men to always allow their women to come to the health facility. They encourage the husband to allow the wives to utilize the government facilities and through these effort- they recorded an increase in the number of women who visit the government health facilities for Antennal services and delivery. In the past, they narrated that most pregnant women find it absurd to attend hospital, they mostly delivery their babies in their homes.

They also narrated how they intervened in the case of a woman who was pregnant and was in labour but could not go to the primary health care (PHC) facility because the husband was not around as it unacceptable for women to do so in their community. When the woman was in labour and the community gate keeper was contacted -he went to intervene and ensured that the woman was taken to the PHC. The woman was eventually delivered of one live baby and one still birth because of the prolong labor. The gate keeper reported the matter to their ward head in the community to warn the husbands about his refusal to allow his wife access to healthcare in his absence. The ward head took the matter up and followed up with the husband. On the husband return, he was grateful for their intervention and visited the gate keeper to thank him for the intervention.

These stories mean a lot for me and am sharing so that others can learn and we can all join hands to getter to make our world a better place. 

Let me know what you think.

Cancer

Recent research has found new cancer in human beings, caused by Silver Nitro Oxide. 

Whenever you buy recharge cards, don’t scratch with your nails, as it contains Silver Nitro Oxide coating and can cause skin cancer. 

Share this message with your loved ones. 

Important Health Tips:

1. Answer phone calls with the left ear.

2. Don't take your medicine with cold water....

3. Don't eat heavy meals after 5pm.

4. Drink more water in the morning, less at night.

5. Best sleeping time is from 10pm to 4 am.

6. Don’t lie down immediately after taking medicine or after meals.

7. When phone's battery is low to last bar, don't answer the phone, because the radiation is 1000 times stronger.

Increasing rate of heart attack

Are you worried at the rate at which young people are slumping and dying? It is becoming alarming. You hear things like we gisted throughout the night, but he/she died the next morning. He came back from work, sat down and was expecting his dinner and that was the end. He was on the pulpit preaching and suddenly he slumped and died. He fainted in the market and was rushed to the hospital and was confirmed dead. In fact, the list continues.

Now that the person has died, the next thing you hear is that they have killed him-and you ask, who killed the him? the village people, they are responsible for his/her death. There is a saying that the evil trive because men have failed to do nothing. In the words of Edmund Burke "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men should do nothing” Now comes the question: What are you doing to prevent heart attack???

Early warning signs of Mental disorder

With increasing cases of suicide it is important to know some early signs to check out for which could be linked to mental disorder. Once there is help there is hope.

Seek help and say it LOUD once you experience any of these signs:

1.  You don't feel like being with your friends or family
2.  When you stop thinking as quickly, or rationally or clearly as you used to think
3. You have physical pain or discomfort which the doctors cannot trace a reason for
4. You begin to drink and apply self medication so as to ignore what is happening to you
5. You know that something is wrong with you but you don't know and can't say what is wrong with You.

10 early signs of Mental disorder

1. Feeling sad or withdraw for more than 2 weeks
2. Severe mood swing that cause problems in relationships
3. Intense worry or fears that get in the daily activities
4. Sudden overwhelming fears for no reason
5. Seriously trying to harm of kill oneself or making plans to do so
6. Not eating, throwing up or using laxatives to loose weight
7. Significant weight loss or weight gain
8. Severe out of control risk taking behaviors
9. Repeated use of alcohol or drugs
10. Drastic changes in behavior or personality or sleeping habit and Extreme difficulty concentration or staying still

NEW YEAR 2019

Love yourself and your Neighbour
Stay Healthy
Take care of yourself and the sick ones around you
let's make the world a better place

What is more important LIFE? or MONEY?

This might sound absurd but in reality, we need to answer this question. You need to be alive to make money.

I believe this principle should also apply when it comes to saving a life, especially in an emergency situation.

Have you ever wondered why HELPING  is difficult? I have come to realize that the reason why many people will choose not help at first instance is probably that of the challenges that come with helping someone.

Sometime in 2015, I and my friend witnessed an accident where we tried to save a year-old baby boy that was involved in an auto crash at the famous 40-40 roundabout in Owerri, Imo state, Nigeria. 

Immediately, we heard “boom” the next thing we saw, was spectators that could not allow one to see the scene of the accident without even doing anything. My friend, a medical doctor immediately wangled her way into the scene of the accident to rescue a little baby that was half naked and was unconscious. She picked up the baby in the midst of broken beer bottles that have been smashed with blood stains and bruises all over his body. It was gathered that the lady who had a fractured leg at the scene was going to buy drinks with empty grates and decided to took her neighbor's son along as the boy was fond of her and could not let her go. 

When my friend picked up the poor boy, she jumped inside a tricycle “Keke” that was packed close to the scene.

Surprisingly, the owner of the tricycle came and shouted that she should get down with the baby. Confused, my friend ran to me and was humming “we must save this boy”. “Please bring your car” Unprepared, we quickly rushed to Imo state Specialist hospital Umuguma.  It was on a Saturday morning at about 9am, on getting to the hospital behold there was no single doctor to attend to us. We then again moved straight to Federal Medical Center, Owerri (FMCO). Before getting to FMCO, we got information that they were on strike. We finally landed at Umezurike Hospital- a private medical vendor.  

Unfortunately, we were asked to make some deposit before the boy could be attended to. Though unprepared we accepted to comply, that was how the boy was accepted for treatment.

To cut the long story short- I followed up with the mother who confirmed that the boy was getting better although he was later referred to the teaching hospital after transfusion and other treatment to stabilize him. She also reported that he had a fracture in one of his legs but the good news is that he eventually survived and is alive.

Have you thought about the reason why the Keke owner refused to carry the boy to the hospital?

The commercial driver who also volunteered to carry the lady with a fractured leg, also exploded in anger that they should settle him to go because the series of the event almost took the whole day causing him to lose money.

Now back to the story of Miss Linda Angela Igwetu the corp member that was shot on Wednesday 5th July 2018, a night before her passing out. We were told she was rushed to Garki Hospital Abuja but the disturbing report we heard was that the hospital delayed a bleeding patient for 1hr 30minutes just because they insisted on taking a deposit. The Police DPO actually had to send for cash for treatment which commenced an hour 30minutes later. Sadly, we lost her.

We must begin to build a culture of professionalism and evaluation system that ensures that utmost priority is given to LIFE.  

Think patient’s safety first.

Stubbornness is not the same as faith

Research has shown that evidence-based practice is the best option in making medical decisions. As a patient, we need to take medical advise that has been proved to be the best in our own interest. Dialogue with your doctor, weigh all the options. if possible seek other expert opinions before rejecting doctors advise if you must.

Am feeling sad that we lost a 44year old woman who waited for 19years before conceiving a set of twin. She died and lost her set of twins in the process of giving birth because she insisted on delivery the natural way against the doctor's advice.
I had believed this myth in the past. I also had a close friend who narrowly escaped death due to same believe of delivering the natural way against doctor's advice.

We also lost a pregnant widow (Mrs. Ugochukwu) about 2 years ago who had 3 children (a set of twins and a boy) on her 3rd pregnancy on a similar situation. Leaving the 3 kids as double orphans.

Please note that:

1. Delivery through caesarian section (C/S) is not a curse. 
2. It is a falsehood to believe that C/S is not of God
3. You can still have babies the normal way after successful C/S

Source: How I lost my Aunt at childbirth