Bauchi, NGO move against discrimination, stigmatisation of patients 

The Bauchi State government, in collaboration with a non-governmental organisation (NGO), Better Life Restoration Initiative (BERI), has expressed concerns over discrimination and stigmatisation of patients by medical personnel.

The Zonal Director of Primary Health Care, Bauchi North, Jibrin Muhammed Inuwa, while speaking at a three-day training for health workers on ‘Stigma-free, Non-Discriminatory and Quality Health Care Service Delivery’, organised by BERI in Azare yesterday, deplored attitude of caregivers at health facilities, which he described as discriminatory and stigmatising.

Stating that the development was depriving Nigerians of their medical rights, he added: “We cannot end HIV, Tuberculosis (TB) and malaria as epidemics without prioritising gender equality. Gender norms, roles and relationships influence health in multiple ways: they contribute to risk-taking behaviour, amplify vulnerabilities, impact access to health services and affect decision-making power within relationships and over health.”

Inuwa continued: “Gender is relevant for everyone’s health, but women, girls and gender-diverse communities, in particular, experience significant health disparities due to gender inequality, discrimination, violence and gender-related barriers in accessing health services.”

The zonal director shared the experience of a patient, who “preferred death to seeking medical care at a particular hospital.”

He added: “When we asked her, ‘Why didn’t you like to go to the hospital, she preferred death than to go to the particular PHC’, just because of the discrimination and stigmatisation by the health workers, the woman later died.”

Inuwa warned health personnel against discriminatory words and unfriendly attitudes towards patients, saying they were employed mainly to provide quality health care services.

He urged the practitioners to keep patients’ histories highly confidential.

The Executive Director of BERI, Nkem Ogbonna, said the training became necessary to curb the spread of avoidable diseases like HIV and TB among adolescents and women.

According to him, sex workers and HIV patients are a key population, and to tame the spread, they must be brought to a roundtable to educate them on the danger.