Why efforts against uterine fibroids should be improved

Chairman, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), Abuja branch, Mrs  Otote Bridget Aladi  has called on  government and other stakeholders to improve on efforts towards tackling the scourge of uterine fibroids amongst Nigerian women. In an interview with the Daily Trust Health Desk, she said uterine fibroid is a national emergency that has been silently killing […]

Chairman, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), Abuja branch, Mrs  Otote Bridget Aladi  has called on  government and other stakeholders to improve on efforts towards tackling the scourge of uterine fibroids amongst Nigerian women.
In an interview with the Daily Trust Health Desk, she said uterine fibroid is a national emergency that has been silently killing women in the country for so many decades, and there is need to put in place policies that would help create awareness, and provide access to treatment of fibroids as it is expensive to treat and most times beyond the reach of the poor.
“Uterine fibroids have become so rampant that about 80% of  African women have it, or have had it by age 50.  Recently I attended a workshop oganized by Mrs Grace Charrier, founder of the Fibroid Initiative of  United States of America, a non-governmental organization. A quick check by one of the presenters at the technical session and a renowned gyneacologist at the National Hospital,  Abuja,  during the workshop showed that an alarming 50% of women present at the event had fibroid or have had it,” she said.
She said it is high time men realise that uterine fibroid is not a problem of the female gender alone, because a man whose wife has uterine fibroid can hardly have a normal relationship with her, due to the pain she might experience during intercourse.
According to her,  she also encounters cramps and pains during her normal menstrual flow  such that the loving husband may not be able to endure.
 “The woman is usually stigmatized by family and friends which is also worrisome to her spouse , and  uterine fibroids may also sometimes be responsible for infertility and miscarriages,” she said.