The president, Spinal Bifida and Hydrocephalus Care Foundation, Mrs Lawani Dubumi, has disclosed that about 12,000 pregnancies by Nigerian women are predisposed? to? birth defects.
Speaking to newsmen during the first? World Spinal Bifida and Hydrocephalous Day celebration last week Thursday in Abuja, she? emphasized that though there is no? national statistics in Nigeria, and? accurate statistics but from estimates reported so far, ?almost 13,000 of? pregnancies? in the country results in? hydrocephalous children.
?Experts at the event said that pregnant women getting enough folic acid every day can help prevent birth defects in babies.
Some studies have found that there might be other important health benefits from taking folic acid, such as prevention of depression and heart disease.
? Dubumi noted that the chances of survival for hydrocephalous children are moderately high but with timely intervention.
“They can be helped because as soon as these children are born, we are supposed to carry out medical intervention but most times, because information is not there, parents don’t know where to go. They delay and the children develop infection. So even when they come to the hospital and there is infection, there necessarily will be delay because they have to treat the infection first before they can carry out the surgery.”
She explained that the actual cause? of hydrocephalous is not always clear and that it differs with age and circumstances, adding, “We’d like to say that the main cause is unknown. But there are some conditions that if the women develop them, they’re at risk of having children with spinal bifida. Obesity is one of them and diabetes is also one of them. More than 70 per cent of all hydrocephalus cases are congenital”
While commending Nigeria’s participation in commemorating the day, the president of the Spinal Bifida and Hydrocephalous Care Foundation called on the three tiers of government and well-spirited individuals to come together to disseminate information and support mothers who have children with spinal bifida.
“We need a national campaign on neural birth defects so that people can be aware and when to seek for help. It is very important,” she said.
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