Effect of FGM: ‘New born babies can be deprived of oxygen during delivery’

● Dr Seyram Wordui

Newborns of mothers who have undergone Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) risk experiencing complications of foetal distress which occurs when the foetus does not receive enough oxygen.

(FGM involves the partial or total removal of external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons).

The situation of foetal distress usually happens in cases of mothers who have developed scars  from the FGM practice therefore making it difficult for the scar tissues to stretch for babies to have a smooth passage through the vaginal carnal during the process of delivery.

A Paediatrician,  Dr Seyram Wordui disclosed this in an interaction with The Spectator last Saturday at Tema  and explained that when babies were deprived of oxygen under such circumstances,  they could among other things, become asphyxiated which could result in complications like cerebral palsy.

Cerebral palsy is a congenital disorder of movement, muscle tone or posture and is usually due to abnormal brain development often before birth but could also occur at birth or in early infancy.

Birth asphyxia happens also when a baby’s brain and other organs do not get enough oxygen and nutrients before, during or right after birth and could lead to unconsciousness, suffocation or even death.

Dr Wordui who is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Babychildandco described FGM as a serious threat to the lives of babies be they male or female and that the practice was not only a diservice to women but babies too.

She said the fact that some communities still encouraged FGM in some parts of Ghana was disheartening and a serious cause for worry as a Paediatrician because some of the victims even as children were affected physically and mentally and had to live with the trauma and pain for the rest of their lives.

She said ignorance of the practice by persons engaged in it posed a threat to the lives of children in several ways with serious consequences and so all well meaning people must speak strongly against it.

Dr Wordui mentioned that some of the effects of the FGM included bleeding that could lead to death which especially happened because measures were not put in place to address such cases.

She said infections from use of non-sterile instruments and poor wound management were also a threat to lives of victims of FGM because it spread infections.

“These infections could lead to sepsis and death. Notable infections are bacterial infections, Hepatitis C and HIV” she disclosed.

She also mentioned Post Traumatic Stress as some of the disadvantages of FGM and therefore advised parents to desist from taking their children through the practice.

From Dzifa Tetteh Tay, Tema.