Over 90 Percent Of Nigerian Female Prisoners Are Pregnant

An alarm has been raised over the poor health conditions of female inmates of Nigerian prisons.The National Council of Women’s Society (NCWS) has disclosed that 90 per cent of female prisoners in the country were either pregnant or nursing mothers.
The society’s president, Mrs. Gloria Shoda, made the disclosure a couple of days ago in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital at the inauguration of new executives.
She appealed to the Federal Government to formulate policies to protect female prisoners. She also urged the National Human Rights Commission to intervene to stop all forms of discrimination against female prisoners who are awaiting trial.
According to her, assisting women with the relevant skills could help in building a better society.She said: “It is only when women are considered as the center of development that the economy could be better developed.
“We urge government to integrate gender into its developmental agenda by including them in public policy and governance. Women and girls are facing so many unpleasant challenges in the country. Everyday, the newspapers report incidents of violence against them even in the internally displaced persons camps.”
She urged them to embrace the nationwide slogan of “change begins with me,” to support one another.
Investigations carried out by Nigeria Natural Health Online shows that these pregnant women do not have a standard prenatal attention that a normal pregnant woman should have. There are a range of adverse health effects associated with maternal under-nutrition. It can affect both the pregnant woman and developing baby in the short and long-term.
A woman’s nutritional status at the time she becomes pregnant influences her health during pregnancy and the health of her baby. It is determined largely by her nutritional intake before pregnancy. If a woman is under-nourished prior to conception because she does not eat enough, she may be malnourished and underweight at the time she conceives. This will have an ongoing effect on her nutritional status throughout the pregnancy. Her nutritional status at the time she becomes pregnant is also an important factor influencing the health of the foetus, as well as the long term health of the infant.
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) at the time of conception are unlikely to improve their nutritional status during pregnancy, when their bodies have additional demands due to the growing baby. They may fail to gain sufficient weight during pregnancy and have a higher risk of maternal mortality (dying whilst pregnant) than normal weight women. Under-nourished women may also lack the nutritional stores required to support embryo growth. Embryo refers to a fertilised egg, before it begins to take on human characteristics (at which stage it is referred to as a foetus). In the first few days after conception the embryo exists in the woman’s womb but has not yet implanted into the lining of the womb where it will grow throughout the pregnancy. This is known as the pre-implantation period and is the period of pregnancy in which cells divide and replicate most rapidly. Maternal malnutrition can adversely affect the division and replication of cells in the embryo at this stage, impairing its development. Impaired embryo development in turn adversely effects the development of the foetus in the later stages of pregnancy.
A woman’s nutritional status at the time she becomes pregnant also influences the differentiation of cells in the embryo into foetal and placental cells. When the embryo implants into the wall of a woman’s uterus, it develops two types of cells, those that will become the foetus and those which will become the placenta (the structure which nourishes and supports the foetus during pregnancy). In undernourished women, a greater number of cells are likely to form the placenta compared to the foetus, meaning that the foetus begins its life smaller than it should do. This can lead to restricted foetal growth and increases the risk of the baby being born at a low-birth weight (<2 .5kg="" a="" associated="" birth="" in="" is="" low="" of="" range="" strong="" turn="" weight="" with="">adverse outcomes
in childhood and later in life.In the light of the above revelations, analysts who spoke with Nigeria Natural Health Online, said the federal government of Nigeria should pay attention to the alarm raised by NCWS and come to the rescue of these pregnant female prisoners.