Married at 15, 17-year-old Zulfatu Yahaya from Jigawa State has had three miscarriages. This is because she believes in traditional healing, herbs and roots.
“I didn’t believe in Western medicine or clinics.” She was in hospital at the time of writing this article; seven months pregnant, another pregnancy gone wrong.
This particular one started at four months when she started experiencing severe vaginal itching, foul-smelling discharge, and fever. She used her usual herbs and shoots, which offered temporary relief, but the problem persisted. Concerned, her worried partner consulted with an MMA MIPCA friend who asked him if they had been attending ANC sessions. He said they hadn’t; they’d just used roots and shoots. He invited them over to the community facility where ANC experts conducted thorough examinations. She was diagnosed with Chorioamnionitis, an infection of the placenta and amniotic fluid that could necessitate preterm delivery.
Zulfatu was urgently referred to a higher-level facility for advanced care, where preterm labor was quickly induced to save both mother and child. This was successful, and the preterm baby was placed in a special care unit for ongoing monitoring. The ANC experts counseled the couple and referred Zulfatu to a mentor for Life and Family Health (LFH) classes to gain more knowledge.
Zulfatu and her partner have since recognized the critical role of ANC in ensuring positive pregnancy outcomes and understand their responsibilities for a smoother pregnancy.
