Would you subject yourself for sterilization?

The reports said many of the women were paid 1,400 rupees ($23) which is equivalent to 4, 057 naira for the surgery and health workers also received smaller payments for bringing women to the camp. About 80 women attended the first free government-run camp where they each had a laparoscopic tubectomy, 60 fell ill shortly […]

The reports said many of the women were paid 1,400 rupees ($23) which is equivalent to 4, 057 naira for the surgery and health workers also received smaller payments for bringing women to the camp. About 80 women attended the first free government-run camp where they each had a laparoscopic tubectomy, 60 fell ill shortly and over a dozen died afterwards.
The reports also said none of the women appeared to have been properly examined before the operations at either camp, nor was there any follow-up care. In addition  some of the women were said to have participated or were encouraged by their husbands to do so because of the monetary incentive  which is equivalent to the money for two weeks work for a manual labourer in the poor areas.
According to Dr Henry Osazuwa, a consultant gynecologist at the Wellspring Hospital, Jabi, Abuja, female sterilization is simply a surgical procedure that permanently prevents a woman from getting pregnant and it cannot be easily reversed.He said a man can also be permanently sterilized through a procedure called vasectomy and it is easier to reverse  for men.
The Homefront sought  the views of respondents if they will opt for sterilisation as a form of birth control either on their own or subjecting themselves for it in mass camps if organized by government.
Hajiya Samira,   a housewife said she wouldn’t allow herself to be sterilised except on health grounds. “More so, in Africa we generally don’t believe in sterilizing a woman, no matter how many children she has had. It is not advisable. What if something happens to the child or children she has before? That means she will become childless even if she is of child bearing age. I would rather go for others that give temporal control, unless I must do it for health reasons,” she said.
Mrs Bridget Chiedu Onochie, a journalist with the Guardian Newspaper  said she would neither subject herself for sterilization  nor advise any woman to go for it because there are several contraceptive methods by which she can prevent pregnancy rather than getting permanently sterilized.
She said: “If a woman wants to stop having children or control child birth, aside contraceptives there are also natural methods  for doing that. I don’t think a woman should go to the extreme measure of sterilization and subjecting herself to risks or death. It is alien to Africa and our culture. I think most African women will never subscribe to that kind of birth control.”
Hajiya Amina Mohammed, a business woman said she  wouldn’t subject herself for sterilization and wouldn’t also give birth to children she cannot take care of. She said by her religion God gives children and before giving you a child He has also provided what to take care of the child.
The business woman flayed the mass camps in India saying the money they are giving for mass sterilization could be used to support the women to take care of their children or cater for them in orphanages or social welfare programmes. In addition she said the women should have been individually tested and consulted before the operations.
Mrs Ejike Veronica , a civil servant said   she cannot allow herself to be sterilized because she is always afraid of the health implications or side effects of any medical procedure or operations.
Another respondent who simply wants to be identified as Nkiru said she has been sterilized. She said she initially wanted two children but ended up having four children because her contraceptive methods failed.
She said she had to undergo Caesarean section for the fourth child and asked the doctors to sterilize her because she didn’t want more children and didn’t want to go through the problems of pregnancy again.
Blessing Adewole  a journalist said she will never allow herself to be sterilized  on personal grounds or mass participation. She said, “I wouldn’t opt for sterilization because I can use other contraceptive means to prevent pregnancy. I wouldn’t go to the length of sterilization a permanent form which has its side effects in the name of contraception.”
Christiana Ojemene , a mother of nine including two set of twins  who spoke to Homefront on phone from her village said she will opt for sterilization because  she has had several children after preventive methods failed and  any method that will permanently prevent her from having children is fine by her.
Mrs Muibat Animashaun,  a teacher said she would not go for it  because she would feel uncomfortable being artificially sterilized woman.
Dr  Henry Osazuwa, a consultant gynecologist at the Wellspring Hospital said that female sterilization is not a common practice in Nigeria because of cultural believes in reincarnation.
“India is one of the countries that is over populated and some of these sterilization  surgeries are sponsored by donor agencies and it is like there are some pressures coming from above, but for us here culture is already an important limitation because of people’s believe in reincarnation, that when you take out part of your  body, when you come back in the next life, those defects are going to be there. So a lot of women do not approve of that option in our environment,” he explained.
He said while it is not a common or popular  contraceptive method in the country there are good medical indications for it.  “The one in India is done for population control and there are many issues associated with that. But for the medical aspects there are people that have medical conditions  like some women’s pregnancy compromise their health or even lead to their demise, in such cases we often advise a permanent contraception. For complications from pregnancy or where the women have laboured and their uterus has ruptured we do for  them procedure done for the women in India,” he said.
The doctor said one news item that didn’t come out of the Indian experience is the fact that questions where not raised on why men are not being sterilized there.
“Why are they not sterilizing the males because it is actually easier to sterilize the males called vasectomy. Why are they putting the burden on the women? Of all the news items nobody talked about why the men there are not subjecting themselves for vasectomy which is also easier to reverse than for that of women? But because men control most of these decisions, there is no much focus on the role the man can play on sterilization,” he said.
The doctor said sterilization has a major role to play if it is not looked at  as a general population control but as a medical intervention based on individual merits. He added that the Indian women’s death may have been caused by contaminated drugs from the factory given to them and the way the doctor carried out the procedure because ordinarily people don’t die from it.