‘214 girls rescued from Sambisa are pregnant’

At least 214 of the 687 girls and women rescued by the Nigerian military from Sambisa last week are “at various stages of pregnancy”, Babatunde Osotimehin a professor and executive director of the United Nations Population Fund, has said.

Speaking on the response of UNFPA to the release of the girls, Osotimehin said the agency had taken delivery of about 16,000 pregnancies in the north-east. He added that it was working with the federal and state governments to restore the dignity of the girls and help them overcome severe psycho-social trauma before reintegrating them into the society.

“What we found is that some of the women and girls that have come back actually have much more in terms of the stress they have faced, so the counselling has to be more intense and working with them one-on-one,” he said

“I saw so many women and children who have so much stress written all over them, some were lost in their lonely world oblivious of where they are and many showed signs that they obviously had been traumatized by their various experiences.

“Already, many of them are undergoing screening for various diseases, infections including HIV/AIDS and about 214 of those already screened were discovered to be at various stages of pregnancies, some visibly pregnant and some just tested pregnant; but we are supporting all of them with various levels of care to stabilize them.

“I’m glad the communities are not excommunicating them and are taking them back. That is an important therapy too. We anticipate this is going to escalate because the military intervention is continuing, we find that more people are now needing our services and we will continue.”

He explained that in conflict and disasters, most people would only think of water and sanitation, provision of tents and housing, and food, which are all important, but women and girls have specific needs that nobody else looks after.

“It is only UNFPA that is doing this. We are giving psycho-social counselling,” he said.

“Beyond that, in the growing young people, we will always have pregnant women, but nobody segregates the needs of the pregnant women, which are very important and different from the needs of the average community. We look after them, and ensure they get antenatal care and that they deliver properly and that they even get Caesarean Section when necessary.”