About 214 girls from those recently rescued by the Nigerian Army are reportedly pregnant.
According to a report by Vanguard newspapers, the figure was obtained
from one of the Internally Displaced Persons camp in Borno.
This was stated by the Executive Director, UNFPA, Prof. Babatunde
Osotimehin, who also disclosed that in the last one year, his
organization had taken deliveries of over 16,000 pregnancies in the
troubled North East part of the country.
“What we found is that some of the women and girls that have come
back actually have much more in terms of the stress they have faced, so
the counselling has to be more intense and working with them one-on-one.
“I’m glad the communities are not excommunicating them and are taking
them back. That is an important therapy too. We anticipate this is
going to escalate because the military intervention is continuing, we
find that more people are now needing our services and we will
continue,” he stated.
“UNFPA is providing dignity for women. In conflict and disasters,
most people would only think of water and sanitation, provision of tents
and housing, and food, which are all important. But women and girls
have specific needs that nobody else looks after; it is only UNFPA that
is doing this. We are giving psychosocial counselling.
“Beyond that, in the growing young people, we will always have
pregnant women, but nobody segregates the needs of the pregnant women
which are very important and different from the needs of the average
community. We look after them, and ensure they get antenatal care and
that they deliver properly and that they even get Caesarean Section when
necessary.
Photo for illustrative purpose