Public Health

One of the public health measures that stuck out for me was Immunization. Here in the US, where Immunizations are accessible to all children regardless of their race or the parents ability to pay, many children go unimmunized despite these privileges. However, they are not as easily accessed in Nigeria. According to the PATH: Immunization in Nigeria website: “Northern Nigeria has one of the lowest rates of immunization coverage in the world. In many parts of the north, barely 10 percent of children receive all of their routine vaccines. A formerly strong primary health care system in northern Nigeria has weakened over many years. Polio outbreaks, rumors on the safety of the polio vaccine, and subsequent campaigns disrupted routine immunization services. Routine immunization services are either no longer available or irregular; limited resources for health services and gaps in vaccine storage and distribution add to the challenge of increasing immunization coverage” (1995-2013).

This particular topic sticks out to me for a couple of reasons: one being my best friend’s husband is from Nigeria and he often talks about the lack of sufficient medical supplies and shortages. The other reason is having worked with children for over 15 years it is so unreal that in America, so many children go unimmunized. The information that I have obtained will continue to encourage me to encourage all parents (especially young parents) to get their children immunized that they don’t have an excuse why they aren’t.

Reference

www.path.org/projects/immunization-nigeria.php

PAINFUL!!!! As much as I love my child it was O so painful. I had been in labor from the end of my fifth month until the day I actually had my son. I had been threatening a miscarriage for several months and the ‘day’ I actually was in labor I wasn’t in any pain until I left from a routine doctor’s visit and she told me I was “4 centimeters dilated and needed to go ahead and meet her at the hospital.” I got to the hospital at 4:00 and had my son at 1:30 in the morning! The labor itself I was told and I believe I handled it well, I remember getting in the Jacuzzi and told them “to get me out or I will pull it out of the floor!” After all of that…it was all forgotten when they put my son on my chest! The memory is priceless. No training or education can prepare you for labor in my opinion.

As I searched what other women did in other countries I came across an article that talked about how Nepalese women, for instance, are sometimes pressured to push the baby out before their bodies are ready. Hmong women must give birth alone, without expressing any pain or discomfort, as do women in Nigeria; one in 18 die during the process. Tibetan women often give birth in animal pens. In Bangladeshi women give birth in a hospital, they're often berated by the staff and prevented from reciting religious verses that they traditionally use as a source of comfort pain management. Women in Uganda and Bangladesh are looked down upon for expressing the pain of childbirth, which usually happens at home. Korean women are discouraged from getting pain medication but often have episiotomies forced on them.

Reference

http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/09/health/best-worst-birth-places/index.html