cfhinitiative

MONDAY HEALTH BURST

MONDAY HEALTH BURST: MENTAL HEALTH

Mental health refers to cognitive, behavioral, and emotional well-being of a person. It is the state of someone who is functioning at a satisfactory level of emotional and behavioral adjustment or someone with absence of mental illness. These mental health issues include, but not limited to; mood disorders, psychotic disorder, suicidal thoughts, anxiety, post-traumatic stress, autism, eating disorders, personality disorders, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder.

According to WHO, one in four Nigerians are suffering from some sort of mental illness, which means that about 50 million Nigerians are suffering from either issues that affect how they think, feel, behave or make choices. No wonder, according to WHO report in 2016, Nigeria was revealed to have the 6^th highest suicidal rate among African countries with over 17,000 lives lost. From 2016 till date, the figures continue to be on the increase.

Factors responsible for mental illnesses according to various research include; stigmatization, childhood abuse, trauma, social isolation, neglect, social disadvantage, poverty or debt, losing a loved one, severe or long-term stress, among others. There are also some biological factors responsible for mental disorder such as; genetic/heredity factors, injury to the Brain, deficits of the brain caused during development in pregnancy or at birth, infection, substance abuse, and poor nutrition.

Some important signs of mental illness that can be observed include; prolonged periods of grief, sadness or irritability, extreme high or low mood swings, increase level of fear, anxiety or worry, withdrawal from society, dramatic changes in daily life habits, etc.

Mental wellness is very important as it helps to realize one’s full potentials, cope with life stress, work productively and make meaningful contributions to the society. To maintain a positive mental health; exercise regularly, eat balanced and healthy meals, speak up when you need to, taking a break when needed, remember something you are grateful for and sleep well.

As always said, “Early detection is key to survival”. If any of the above signs are noticed anywhere, kindly seek help or refer victims to appropriate quarters. One can get professional help if need be. Also, connect with others, stay positive, help others and develop coping skills to keep a positive mental well-being.

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SPEAK WEDNESDAY

Gender, Health, Women / cfhinitiative

DATING ABUSE/RAPE

Dating abuse or dating violence is the perpetration of an act of violence by at least one member of an unmarried couple on the other member in the context of dating or courtship. According to a recent report by different researchers, 1 in 3 young people experience this form of abuse which is not only physical, but can be emotional or psychological like in the case of name calling, bullying, shaming, intentionally embarrassing and constant monitoring; sexual abuse like engaging in sexual act without the consent of the partner, and stalking.

Despite the increasing level of dating violence in Nigeria, some people still regard them as normal or a sign of love, hence find it difficult to walk away. These victims condone or rarely report the violence inflicted on them for different reasons like lack of steady income, low self-esteem, lack of exposure to information, false hopes, stigmatization, lack of shelter, and many more. In few cases where these victims summon the courage to report, they will be asked to find a way to resolve their differences, rather than punish the perpetrators.

Some of these relationships end in violent marriages and to this end, many have died and many more are held in severe bondage they cannot easily escape from for the fear of shame, stigmatization, fear of losing the custody of children and ridicule. It is important to know that abuse is never a one off occurrence, the perpetrators often come back begging for forgiveness, only to repeat it again and again.

In recent days, there have been different cases of rape, killings, bulling of women across different states in Nigeria. From the case of Tina to Uwa and then Jennifer. From physical and verbal abuse, to rape and even murder and it is evident that the authorities are not doing enough to stem the tide of abuse which manifests itself in many forms in Nigeria today.

For there to be a healthy society for everyone, we must step up in the fight against any form of abuse and continue to sensitize women and men in some cases to information about the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act of 2015 and their human rights. This way, we will have more people speaking up and justice served.

Centre for Family Health Initiative has been able to sensitize hundreds of girls and provided legal and psycho-social support to many victims through our community activities, but the fight is not just for the government and NGOs. Community leaders, religious leaders, and everyone must spearhead the fight against all forms of abuse.

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MONDAY HEALTH BURST

Health, Hygiene, Sanitation / cfhinitiative

FOOD SAFETY PRECAUTIONS

Food safety is a scientific discipline describing handling, preparation, and storage of food in ways that prevent food-borne illnesses. It is very important to make sure the foods we eat are not contaminated with probable harmful bacteria, toxins, parasites & chemicals.

A critical part of healthy eating is keeping foods safe and the precautions are summarized as clean, separate, cook and chill. Individuals in their own homes can reduce contaminants by following safe food handling practices.

Wash hands with soap and water

Wet hands with clean running water and apply soap. Wash for at least 20 seconds under running water and pat dry with a clean paper towel or hand dryer.

Sanitize surfaces

Surfaces should be frequently sanitized by washing with mixture of hot soapy water plus disinfectants or bleach.

Clean and discard refrigerated foods once a week.

At least once a week, throw out refrigerated foods that should no longer be eaten. Cooked leftovers should be discarded after 4 days; raw poultry and ground meats, 1 to 2 days.

Keep appliances clean

Clean cooking appliances regularly inside-out paying attention to the handles and buttons where cross-contamination from hands can occur.

Rinse produce

Even if you plan to peel or cut the produce before eating, it is important to thoroughly rinse it first to prevent microbes from transferring from the outside to the inside of the produce.

Separate foods when shopping

Separate raw foods in plastic bags and store below ready to eat foods in the refrigerator.

Separate foods when preparing and serving. Never place cooked food back on the same plate or cutting board that previously held raw foods.

Use a food thermometer when cooking

A food thermometer is an appliance used to ensure that food is safely cooked and that cooked food is held at safe temperatures until eaten.

Cook food to safe internal temperatures

Cook all raw beef, pork, lamb, and veal steaks, chops, and roasts to a safe minimum internal temperature of 145 °F. Cook all poultry, including ground turkey and chicken, to an internal temperature of 165 °F for safety and quality.

Keep foods at safe temperatures

Hold cold foods at 40 °F or below. Keep hot foods at 140 °F or above. Foods are no longer safe to eat when they have been in the danger zone between 40-140 °F for more than 2 hours

In order to remain healthy, it is important to observe these food safety precautions. Foods must be safely bought, prepared and stored.

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SPEAK WEDNESDAY

Sanitation, Women / cfhinitiative

SPEAK WEDNESDAY – MENSTRUAL HEALTH

Menstrual health is about access to menstrual care products to absorb or collect menstrual blood, privacy to change the materials, and access to facilities to dispose of used menstrual care materials. It can also include the “broader systemic factors that link menstruation with health, well-being, gender equality, education, equity, empowerment, and rights”. It can be particularly challenging for girls and women in developing countries, where clean water and toilet facilities are often inadequate. Then with the pandemic “COVID-19” Menstrual care has been a difficult task to uphold, hence Menstrual flow will not stop due to the pandemic.

Adequate measures have to be taken to ensure that young ladies and women from the poor of the poor in Africa as a continent, Nigeria as a country are reached and are sensitized and provided with sanitary pad both usable or reusable so that their state of confidence does not diminish into thin air, while struggling to conform themselves with the societal norm. Community training should not stop in helping them know how the waste should be discarded in an environmentally friendly way, which is largely ignored during this pandemic period in developing countries, despite it being a significant problem.

Menstrual Hygiene Day offers an opportunity to actively advocate for the integration of menstrual care into global, national, and local policies and programs. In Nigeria, CFHI has over the years carried out adequate sensitization programs to curb or reduce to the minimum the problem of menstrual care. Since menstruation would not stop or pause as a result of COVID-19 pandemic then we (CFHI) won’t stop in making sure that our young ladies and women are continuously sensitized about Menstrual Health and how to make sanitary pad available too.

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MONDAY HEALTH BURST – MAY 25, 2020

COVID-19, Gender, Health, Sanitation / cfhinitiative

SAFETY MEASURES FOR CHILDREN DURING LOCKDOWN

Children witness families struggling with government lock downs that prevent their parents from earning a living and bringing their education to a stand-still. It is important to keep the children busy at home so they can adhere to the lock down rules and still have a stable mental health.

Children can do the following to keep themselves busy at home

Talk on the phone or do a video call with family and friends
Text or use other messaging apps to talk with family and friends.
Play online games that let them play with other kids from home.
Exercise daily
Trying out new skills and reading new books/story books

Important safety precautions at home to help prevent infection and spread of COVID-19 in children includes:

Regular hand washing with soap and running water
Regular laundry of their wears
Disinfecting frequently used surfaces such as doorknobs, switch, toys, remote, sink handles, etc
Adequate nutrition such as lots of fruits and vegetables to help build their immune system.
Avoid self-medication. When a child is noticed to have developed any symptom of ill health, visit a health facility.

Important safety precautions at the health facilities during the pandemic

Collaborate to ensure child-friendly health facilities/access to health care, including guidance for health staff on child-friendly communication and special measures to support children’s psycho-social well-being when undergoing treatment and quarantine.
Support child safeguarding training for health workers (particularly where children are separated from their families or caregivers).
Establish safe, child-friendly complaints and feedback mechanisms in health care facilities.
Strengthen capacity on clinical management of rape (CMR) and ensure minimum CMR supplies are available in key facilities to appropriately respond to sexual violence.
Collaborate on mental health and psycho-social support care and messaging for children and caregivers affected by COVID-19.
Collaborate to ensure child-friendly hand-washing stations are available at health facilities, schools, childcare centres, alternative care centres, and other locations children are likely to visit.

Psychologists and economists have considered parenting style such as how warm, strict, or communicative a parent is, is an important determinant of a child’s skills. During a period of home schooling, parents will try to enforce rules and boundaries so that their children can learn. However, harsh parenting including shouting at or smacking children particularly when the socio-emotional skills of children are low, will exacerbate children’s behavioral and emotional problems. Instead, moving to a more sensitive style of parenting can help close the socio-emotional gaps observed across children. Policy makers should also ensure that information, education, and communication (IEC) materials, including information on available services, are produced, and displayed with limited text in child-friendly versions.

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SPEAK WEDNESDAY

Gender, WHO, Women / cfhinitiative

GENDER THEORIES PART 4 – Social Learning Theory by Judith Butler.

(Masculinity and Femininity roles are not biologically fixed but socially constructed)

Social learning theorists hold that a huge array of different influences socialize us as women and men. Females become women through a process whereby they acquire feminine traits and learn feminine behavior. Masculinity and femininity are thoughts conceived through nurture or upbringing. The roles are never innate but with how the society has actually interpreted it.

In our contemporary African society, we put conscious and deliberate efforts towards impacting good values into our female children as compared to the male children. Judith Butler’s gender theory of masculinity and femininity opines that when we equally treat every child alike, we most likely would have almost same features in both the male and female folks. This is because feminine and masculine roles as created and accepted by people in the society is a misconception.

Historically, many feminists have understood ‘woman’ differently: not as a sex term, but as a gender term that depends on social and cultural factors (like social position). In so doing, they distinguished sex (being female or male) from gender (being a woman or a man), although most ordinary language users appear to treat the two interchangeably. More recently this distinction has come under sustained attack and many view it nowadays with (at least some) suspicion.

Feminine and masculine gender-norms, however, are problematic in that gendered behavior conveniently fits with and reinforces women’s subordination so that women are socialized into subordinate social roles: they learn to be passive, ignorant, docile, emotional help meets for men. Since these roles are simply learned, we can create more equal societies by ‘unlearning’ social roles. That is, feminists should aim to diminish the influence of socialization.

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MONDAY HEALTH BURST – COMPLEMENTARY FEEDING

Health, Women / cfhinitiative

MONDAY HEALTH BURST – COMPLEMENTARY FEEDING

Complementary feeding is defined as the process starting when breast milk alone is not sufficient to meet the nutritional requirements of infants, and therefore other foods and liquids are needed along with breast milk. It is the transition from exclusive breastfeeding to family foods which typically covers the period from 6-24 months of age.

Complementary feeding prevents malnutrition, deficiency diseases, like anaemia and promotes growth. Children who are not started on complementary feeding by 6 months of age consume in-adequate variety and amount of food to meet their nutritional needs.

It is important to note that complimentary feeding is done during “weaning” and should be a gradual process. It could be tweaked or limited to semi solids for the first trials and then stepped up to solids. These feeds range from grains, vegetables, fruits, meat, dairy and other classes of food.

To meet evolving nutritional requirements, infants should receive nutritionally adequate and safe complementary foods, while continuing to breastfeed for up to two years. Exclusive breastfeeding is essential for the first 6months of life to achieve optimal growth, development, and health, after which weaning can commence.

When weaning is not instituted in time, children may be deprived of adequate nutrition to continue their growth and can affect the immunity and health.

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SPEAK WEDNESDAY

Gender, Women / cfhinitiative

SPEAK WEDNESDAY – GENDER THEORIES PART 3

(OBJECT RELATIONS THEORY)

According to Object Relations Theory, humans are birthed with an inbuilt capacity to make and sustain relationships and to socialize in their various environment. Once a baby makes his/her first entry into the world, the innate capacity begins to develop immediately he meets “the object”. The object is usually an interior image of one who constantly cares for the infant. In most cases, the first object is the child’s mother. Other objects are the father or guardian who take up parenting responsibilities.

Sάndor Ferenczi initiated the first idea of the Object Relations Theory, followed by other scholars in the 1930’s, 40’s and 50’s who extended the theory. However, in 1952, Ronald Fairbairn popularized his theory of Object Relations. These scholars who have contributed to the development of the theory are trying to explicate the role of “the object” in the development of a child psyche.

The theory proposes that family incidences as infants grow tend to structure the way people socialize with others in their environment. Experiences in adulthood may alter the individual’s personality but the impact from “the object” during childhood still greatly influences the person even as he/she grows older. Children raised in a home ravaged by Gender Based Violence tend to be aggressive as adults and see violence as normal in every home or develop low self-esteem. These positive and negative incidences shapen their character and behavior consciously or unconsciously.

Ronald Fairbairn believes that the first object (mother) plays a key role in the formation of a child’s character. Therefore, emphasizing the importance of raising children in a healthy environment. A mother takes care of her children and unconsciously her children begin to form character from the things they watch her do and say. Mothers’ Day is celebrated not just because a mother cares for her children but because the society understands that a mother plays a key role in producing either bad or patriotic citizens.

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MONDAY HEALTH BURST

COVID-19, Health, Hygiene, Sanitation, WHO / cfhinitiative

MONDAY HEALTH BURST

Studies are limited in how effective the use of face masks on healthy individuals affect the outcome of prevention of a respiratory virus. However, during the Covid-19 pandemic, we have seen nations use the precaution of implementing the use of face masks nationwide and have seen remarkable results on the prevention of the spread of the virus together with hand washing and social distancing. This among other studies led to the recommendation of non medical masks by WHO and Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

According to WHO guidelines, appropriate use and disposal of face masks are essential to ensure that they are effective and to avoid any increase in transmission. Hence, the need for proper sensitization to the proper way of using a face mask and how to dispose it, since so many people had little or no knowledge of what a face mask is prior to the pandemic.

Below are recommended steps on the correct use of face masks by Practices in Healthcare Settings:

Place the mask carefully, ensuring it covers the mouth and nose and tie it securely to minimize any gaps between the face and the mask.
Avoid touching the mask while wearing it.
Remove the mask appropriately by not touching the front of the mask but untie from behind.
After removal, clean hands using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer or wash with soap and water.
Replace masks as soon as they become dampened.
Do not re-use single-use masks.
Discard single-use masks after each use and dispose of them immediately upon removal.
For non medical masks, make sure to wash with disinfectant as well as soap and water after single use and make sure to dry under the sun. It is also advisable to have more than one non medical mask.

#StaySafe #MondayHealthBurst

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SPEAK WEDNESDAY- GENDER THEORIES PART 2

Gender, Women / cfhinitiative

SPEAK WEDNESDAY- GENDER THEORIES PART 2

(STANDPOINT THEORY BY DOROTHY SMITH)

Through the standpoint theory, Smith argues that notions and beliefs are greatly influenced by location. “We begin from the world as we actually experience it, and what we know of the world and of the other is conditional on that location” (Smith 1987).

At different parts of the world, harboring different kinds of people, beliefs, religions, ideologies and values define who we are and what we believe. To her, as we grow, our values developed from incidences around our environment and this is why the value placed on each gender differs in every society. Then, we begin to take stands (stand point) in our society from what we know through our experiences and the experiences of others.

In Africa, male children are celebrated over their female folks and this has in so many ways contributed to how less important females feel at home, school, social gathering and even at work place. This has affected the mind-set of most female children and as they grow into adulthood, they are made them see themselves as the weaker gender, whose voice should be heard only when asked.

Since we were all born at different locations of the world, we lack the entire knowledge of it. No one knows the entire information of the world. Smith therefore puts a limitation on the knowledge of man.

According to Smith, standpoint is individualistic. This means that no two persons can have the same standpoint irrespective of if they were born and raised in the same environment or society. She therefore encourages us to take our standpoint seriously because it explicates the totality of an individual.

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