What child spacing does for your health
Halima Ibrahim loves children so much, she has six already. Once she’s weaned one child, she is pregnant with another.
The children don’t get the best of attention, her health is fragile. In a year, she is either breastfeeding or pregnant.
She is one of many women in Nigeria who are unable to space their children. Only around 17 in 100 married women use any method of contraception, and among them only 12 in 100 use any modern method.
At least 18 in 100 women want to plan their families by spacing births but they are not able to.
Spacing is for their own good, to some extent. They get the opportunity to reduce the frequency of giving birth, maintain their health and take care of their family.
It is imperative for children to be spaced two years apart, some three to years apart, or even more than for years ago, says Dr Hadiza Galadanci, a professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital of Bayero University, Kano.
Increasing birth space to at least two years significantly reduces the number of infant deaths, she says.
She adds an estimated 94,000 infant lives would have been saved in 2017 alone, if mothers spaced their children by at least two years.
She is part of a faculty facilitating a training for health journalists on reproductive, maternal and child health by the Rotary Action Group.
Galadanci explained that not
Ispacing children has led to a mortality rate of 55 per 100,000 live birth, unwanted pregnancies and unsafe abortions which could lead to maternal death.
The world health organization (WHO) estimates that 17.6 million unsafe abortions are carried out in developing countries annually.
Galadanci said in some parts of Nigeria, unsafe abortions account for up to 10 to 40 percent of maternal deaths.
But spacing reduces pregnancyrelated morbidity and mortality, improves birth outcomes, reduces prematurity as well as reduces low birth weight in babies. Child spacing has been proven to reduce infant mortality rates and has led to better healthy babies.
The ABU professor noted that
Judd-Leonard Okafor, with journal report n the lead up to partial easing of lockdown in the country, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control issued advisories to guide businesses reopening.
It urged that surfaces that see regular traffic be routinely wiped down with alcohol- based sanitisers.
Door knobs, light switches, shopping cart, stair rails, lift buttons, table surfaces. Dread is in the air when it comes to touching surfaces commonly taken for granted because of the rapid spread of Covid-19.
A chemical engineer in the US believes he has found a solution: a surface coating that when painted on common objects inactivates the coronavirus virus in one hour.
That doesn’t mean other safety measures in place to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Handwashing, physical distancing and wearing a mask are still in place.
But the upside is “people won’t have to worry as when child spacing is done, it will save the lives of an additional 22,000 mothers and 101,000 children in Nigeria.
Galadanci, who is the director, Africa Centre of Excellence for Population Health and Policy enumerated the health benefits of child spacing by saying that child spacing reduces some basic things such as unwanted pregnancy, unsafe abortion and complications associated with it, as well as mortality and morbidity associated with unsafe abortion. Asides that, she said it also reduces school dropout, menstrual bleeding, iron deficiency anaemia and it helps in treating acne.
She pointed out that when women space their children, it reduces their risk of having some much about touching objects. It will be both practical and reducing fear,” says William Ducker, a chemical engineering professor at Virginia Tech.
He developed the coating since midMarch. He worked with Leo Poon, a professor and researcher at the University of Hong Kong’s School of Public Health, to test the film’s success at inactivating the virus.
Their research was published July 13 in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, a scientific journal for chemists, engineers, biologists, and physicists.
“The idea is when the droplets land on a solid object, the virus within the droplets will be inactivated,” Ducker said.
When the coating is painted on glass or stainless steel, the amount of virus is reduced by 99.9 percent in one hour, compared to the uncoated sample.
That is the shortest period they have tested so far, and tests for shorter periods are ongoing.
His expectation is that his team can inactivate the virus in minutes. Results have shown that the coating is robust.
It does not peel off after being slashed with a razor blade. It also retains its ability to inactivate the virus after multiple rounds of being exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 virus and then disinfection or after being submerged in cancers, tumours and infections including endometrial cancer, ovarian tumours/cancer, ectopic pregnancy as well as sexually transmitted infections (STI) including HIV.
Spacing also works for mental health, with a longer time between births helping improve relationships, reduce depression and anxiety and aids children’s mental and behavioural development.
It also has social benefits. Citing herself as example, Galadanci noted she was able to attain her educational goal as she was able to concentrate on her studies despite being married.
“Spacing children will lead to a better employment, increased earning power and increased water for a week, based on the tests.
If the project’s success continues, it is a significant discovery in fighting the virus’ spread.
“Everybody is worried about touching objects that may have the coronavirus,” said Ducker, who recalled that his wife, in March, questioned whether she should sit on a park bench during the pandemic. “It would help people to relax a little bit.”
Already, Ducker’s research was focused on making films that kill bacteria. As the COVID-19 virus began to spread to the United States a few months ago, Ducker asked himself “Why not make a coating that can eradicate a virus, rather than bacteria?”
“We have to use our chemical knowledge and experience of other viruses to guess what would kill it [SARS-CoV-2],” Ducker said.
Virginia Tech granted “essential family development which will eventually lead to societal development and ultimately national development.”
Explaining how child spacing can be done, a chief midwife with NFPC project, Evelyn Kutelu lectured it is advisable to use contraceptives.
Contraceptives, she said, are devices or products used to prevent pregnancy intentionally, and it is known as child spacing, birth control or family planning. Explaining further, she said there are three methods of contraceptives; traditional, natural and modern methods.
Kutelu revealed that the options available in the traditional methods are; arm band, waist band, herbs/ concoction and incisions.
In the natural methods, she pointed out that the options are; abstinence, withdrawal method, lactational amenorrhea method (LAM), calendar method, billings method and fertilityawareness method.
She mentioned that modern methods are; barrier methods (e.g. male and female condoms, diaphragm), hormonal methods (vaginal ring, pills, injectables, implants (jadelle, implanon), LNG – IUS), intrauterine device (copper – IUD), emergency contraception, sterilization method (vasectomy and tubal ligation).
“Irrespective of the contraceptive used, there are benefits to the man, woman, children, government and the society at large,” she said. personnel” status to Ducker, his two PhD. chemical engineering graduate students -Saeed Behzadinasab and Mohsen Hossein -- and Xu Feng from the university’s Department of Chemistry so that they could enter campus labs to make the film and test its properties.
“It was an interesting experience,” Ducker said. “Almost the entire campus was shut down, and we were like ghosts wandering the empty halls of Goodwin Hall. But it was very exciting to have such a clear goal. I know that it was a difficult time for many people who were bored, unhappy, or scared. We were just focused on making a coating.”
Next, he needed to find someone who could test the coating’s effectiveness. Through an internet search, Ducker found Poon, who is known for his work studying SARs-CoV-1, which was the virus that caused the SARS outbreak in 2003 and 2004. Poon has been active in the fight against SARS-CoV-2.
For Poon’s tests, Ducker and the graduate students spread three different kinds of coatings on glass and stainless steel. Then, they shipped the samples to Poon.
Now, Ducker said he hopes to attract funding in order to mass produce the film.