World Down Syndrome Day: Medical practitioners call for education against use of indiscriminate drugs
As the world marks ‘Down Syndrome Day’ tomorrow, medical experts have advocated for public education on indiscriminate use of drugs by women not prescribed by physicians in order to have a healthy child.
Experts that spoke with BusinessDay advised pregnant women to avoid smoking for the good of their child. The theme of this year’s Down Syndrome day is ‘MyVoiceMyCommunity.’
Rose Mordi, CEO of Down Syndrome Foundation Nigeria (DSFN), explains that “Down syndrome also called ‘trisomy 21’ is a condition in which extra genetic material causes delay on how a child develops. Every cell in the body contains genes that are grouped along chromosomes in the cell’s nucleus or centre. There are normally 46 chromosomes in each cell, 23 inherited from the mother and 23 from the father. When some of the person’s entire cell has an extra full or partial copy of chromosomes, the result is Down syndrome.”
Mordi however says that experts do not know the exact cause of Down syndrome, but children who have Down syndrome tend to have certain features, such as a flat face and a short neck, and “they also have some degree of intellectual disability.”
Clarifying the theme, Mordi says the idea is to enable people with the syndrome to speak up, be heard and influence government policy and action, to be fully included in the community.
“This year, we will focus on enabling people with Down syndrome, and those who advocate for them to speak up, be heard and influence government policy and action, to ensure that they can be included, on a full and equal basis with others, in all aspects of society,” she says.
Also speaking with BusinessDay on the syndrome, Taye Ogunseye, a medical practitioner and CEO of Shekinah Hospital in Oyo State, suggests to government to create public awareness about Down syndrome, saying it is a condition.
While maintaining that such children with Down syndrome should be well integrated into the society, Ogunseye calls for establishment of institutions to train the people with the syndrome at affordable cost.
In her view, Abiola Okeowo, a Lagos-based pharmacist, describes as ‘unimaginable thing’ if a child’s right to life is decided even before his/her arrival on earth, “And incidentally, the events leading to the choice of this decision is no fault of the child.”
Abiola laments, “Down syndrome cannot be prevented. You can never tell that one of your children will have a Down syndrome features but this children are still from God and I advise young parents and couples to stop the abortion of children with Down syndrome when they are diagnosed of one.
They should instead move closer to parents who have trained a child with Down syndrome and learn how to develop their child.”
She further regrets that available statistics show that 90 percent of women diagnosed with Down syndrome children are never allowed to give birth with recommendations from uninformed doctors to get rid of the unborn child.
It is estimated that out of every 750-life births, one is born with Down syndrome condition in Nigeria.