I never knew my child needed immunisation —Ibadan beggar, Zainab

‘I delivered my baby at home. Nobody knew I had a baby in our compound.
Nobody gave her any drug or injection; she was just bathed with warm water and that was all.’

I could only go to the hospital if I had the capacity to settle the bills. The last time I visited the hospital I spent over N1,500  whereas it was something very little I went there for. Even right now, my daughter has some rashes and I’ve spent so much managing it but I cannot go to the hospital because the bills will be outrageous”.

Those were the words of Zainab Lawal, a beggar on the Ojoo bridge in Ibadan, explaining the reason her daughter, Aisha had not been taken to the hospital for routine immunizations. Three months old Aisha was delivered at home without any medical assistance and has not received any of the mandatory vaccines for infants. “I delivered my baby at home. Nobody knew I had a baby in our compound. Nobody gave her any drug or injection; she was just bathed with warm water and that was all,” the mother told Saturday Tribune.

Though the benefits of immunisation for children cannot be overemphasized, Zainab was oblivious of the need to put premium on her health and that of her daughter. She had to Ibadan from Anchau in Katsina State when she was two months pregnant but returned home to deliver her baby. “I came when my pregnancy was two months old and I begged for six months then I returned home because my late husband and relatives said I should not deliver the baby here. While I was here, I went to Adeoyo General Hospital once because I had some rashes and I wanted to know if it affected my baby and thankfully, they said she was not affected,” she said.

She added that even if her family had not asked her to deliver her baby in the North, she would not want to deliver the baby down South because of the social stigma of her being a beggar. “Delivering your child here is not the best because the kids are referred to as bastards. As beggars, people will think the child does not have a father. One would be attracting unwarranted insults from people because we have nothing, so my family said whatever I was doing here, I must leave and return home to deliver the baby. Unfortunately, I lost my husband two weeks after I delivered our baby. He had fever and passed away. So, I came back to continue begging”, Zainab said.

She disclosed that during general routine immunisation, officials from a primary health centre visited the bridge where women and their children are begging to administer vaccine on the children that was the only immunisation Aisha had received from birth to the time of her encounter with Saturday Tribune. Her mother, who thought that she would spend a lot if she went to the hospital, decided to stay away, not minding the consequences.

How about if she was taken to a clinic for the immunisation, would she agree to go? Tribune reporter asked her. She brightened up and expressed her readiness to go. It was a Saturday. She was taken with the child to the primary health care, at Ojoo, Ibadan. She got an appointment for the following Monday.

On Monday, Saturday Tribune followed Zainab with the child to the clinic. The baby got all the three vaccines she was due to take – free of charge.

A surprised Zainab was full of appreciation to the Saturday Tribune, the reporter and the government that gave her child free immunisation free of.

Immunisation, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) is the process whereby a person is made resistant to infectious diseases, typically by the administration of a vaccine. Research shows that getting an infant vaccinated in their first year is imperative as they are more prone to viruses that can affect their health and well-being.

The United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that infants be vaccinated for 14 serious diseases on a specific timeline within their first year. In a statement commemorating this year’s World Immunisation Week, WHO said “vaccines are a crucial step in keeping your baby healthy and helping your child fight off diseases”.

Dr. Babatunde Ogunbosi, a consultant paediatrician at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, also emphasised that immunisation is critical in the first two years of every child. “The first two years of a child are critical because anything that affects them at that age has the potential to affect their ultimate development in life.”

He said “immunisation is one of the important interventions of public health.” The effects of not being immunised go beyond childhood as they are exposed to vaccine preventable diseases. “The mortality from hepatitis is very significant; once a person is infected, there is no cure. Like hepatitis B, if they get infected from infancy or at a young age there is the likelihood of developing cancer of the liver once the infection is very high. So our main prevention against that is our vaccines. Hepatitis B vaccine is very efficient in our national programme.”

Dr Ogunbosi said “vaccines such as the BCG, which is part of our national programme help to prevent infections like tuberculosis. BCG in areas where TB is endemic has been known to reduce the risk of having severe cases of tuberculosis and one of which is meningitis, so the vaccines is one of the ways of preventing children from having bad infections, mortalities and even long term complications from those infections.

“Also, tetanus is something that kills more than half of the people that have the disease, especially in places without proper ventilation. So immunising the mother and child before she is delivered is very important. Unfortunately, we have not eliminated tetanus because we still see children with tetanus after the infant age”.

The importance of immunisation is enormous and evident. Nigeria has been declared polio free and measles has also been reduced to the minimum all by vaccines.

Speaking about their general health and well-being as beggars, leader of the male beggars who described himself as Mallam Ibrahim, said, they supported one another financially if any of them fell sick. He said they got treatment from the hospital. Further chats with him revealed that the hospital he talked about was a local pharmacy. “We go to the hospital to get treatment. There are chemists around that we go to and get drugs. We tell them what the problem is and sometimes they give us injections if the condition warrants that” he said.

The women beggars however, said they handled their bills individually. The leader of the women, Aisha Gambo, said she once spent over N30,000. She said they had nowhere to turn to for help so they treated themselves out of the little they have saved from begging. “I spent over N30,000 on my treatment apart from the traditional medicine I took. I had a blood transfusion in my house. The doctor treated me at home because I did not have money and any relative to help me if I was to be admitted in the hospital.

“We do not understand each other’s language, so being on admission in the hospital was not a favorable option for me. During that period, I used up all the savings I made from begging; no one assisted me with the bills”.

About their menstrual hygiene, Gambo said she and the other women used sanitary pads or clean rags from their wrappers during menstruation she said. “We buy sanitary pads from the money we make and sometimes we use pieces from our wrappers. We have to look out for ourselves. Only God is our helper.”

YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE HEADLINES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE

We Have Not Had Water Supply In Months ― Abeokuta Residents

In spite of the huge investment in the water sector by the government and international organisations, water scarcity has grown to become a perennial nightmare for residents of Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital. This report x-rays the lives and experiences of residents in getting clean, potable and affordable water amidst the surge of COVID-19 cases in the state…Supreme Court upholds Ganduje  Supreme Court upholds Ganduje

Selfies, video calls and Chinese documentaries: The things you’ll meet onboard Lagos-Ibadan train

The Lagos-Ibadan railway was inaugurated recently for a full paid operation by the Nigerian Railway Corporation after about a year of free test-run. Our reporter joined the train to and fro Lagos from Ibadan and tells his experience in this report…Supreme Court upholds Ganduje  Supreme Court upholds Ganduje