Health expert seeks end to women’s reproductive issues

• Delta health commissioner laments rising sickle cell disorder

Perturbed by the growing incidences of menstrual irregularities, infertility and miscarriages among women, experts in the healthcare sector at the weekend, began training doctors on the use of modern and evidence-based approaches towards halting women’s reproductive health challenges.

An Obstetrician and Gynecologist at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Ituku- Ozalla, Enugu, Dr Eziamaka Ezenkwele, disclosed this at a scientific workshop organised in Enugu, under the aegis of Fertility Care Centres of Africa (FCCAf).

According to her, the Creighton Model System and Naprotechnology applications in modern day medicine have been accepted worldwide, as the best way to handle women reproductive health needs.

He canvassed that the approach be incorporated into their services, as it has become necessary to check the trend, in view of the number of women deserving the service.

She added that the conference was aimed at creating awareness in the scientific system as a new reproductive science at applied medicine and surgery to women fertility cycle.

According to her, “It is a new reproductive science which applies medicine and surgery to the woman’s menstrual cycle, which is a system that was discovered by Prof TW Hilgers at Creighton University in Omaha, hence the name.”

Under the system, the women are taught to chart their menstrual cycle by observing cervical mucus discharges on a daily basis.The remarkable thing about it is that the code within the menstrual cycle has been broken to simple language, which has led to several applications in the reproductive area.

These include “management of infertility, miscarriages and menstrual irregularities, child spacing,” among others.Ezenkwele said the centre was a response to the growing demand for a reproductive healthcare that fully respects life, improves marriages and provides for responsible parenthood.

In a related development, the Delta State Commissioner for Health, Dr Nicholas Azinge, has lamented the growing cases of sickle cell disorder, noting that 23 per cent of Nigerians were affected by the disorder.

Azinge who disclosed this in a special broadcast on radio and television to mark this year’s World Sickle Cell Day in the state said that one out of every four Nigerian is a carrier of the sickle cell disorder.

He blamed the situation on the lack of appropriate knowledge of the disease, adding that several of our rural women went into marriages without knowing their genotype.

The commissioner lauded the theme of this year’s
celebration: “Bone Marrow Transplant,’ Cure and Possibilities” which he described as timely as it would engender hope for a lasting cure.

He advised intending couples to go for genotype tests to ensure that they were compatible before consummating their relationships.Azinge added that the introduction of Contributory Health Insurance Scheme by Governor Ifeanyi Okowa’s administration would go a long way in facilitating the management of sickle cell sufferers; as well as reducing their morbidity and mortality rates.