{UAH} GIRL WITH NODDING DISEASE RAPED

Uganda: Girl with nodding disease raped

Via The Monitor: Nodding girl falls prey to rape. Excerpt:

As you enter one of the wards at Atanga Health Centre III in Pader District, there lies a three-week-old baby boy, Sanday (not real name), mothered by a minor. The mother, who is also suffering from nodding syndrome, was sexually abused at 14 years after her mother left her alone on her way to the garden. 

The victim’s mother, a widow, who was also defiled, says she did not know what had happened to her daughter, thinking it could have been one of the effects of the nodding sickness. 

“To my dismay, I realized that she was pregnant at five months and I had to put on hold the garden work and take care of her until she gave birth,” the victim’s mother said. 

“Throughout her pregnancy, my daughter did not have any problem apart from the complications of nodding syndrome, that kept disturbing her all the time and by that time she had not yet started the medication, she adds. 

The child mother gave birth from home normally, with the help of the traditional birth attendant. However, she says her daughter does not know that the baby is hers as she keeps on refusing to breast feed him, which she says could task her to get other means of feeding the baby. 

“I am asking for help from well-wishers to help me raise my grandchild because my daughter cannot breast feed him at the state she is in. At home I have left other four children and there is also nobody to attend to them.” 

The in-charge of Atanga Health Centre, Mr David Nokorach, says the child mother was identified by health workers who engage in outreach programmes in treating some of the nodding disease children who are unable to reach the treatment centre. 

“The baby is healthy according to the medical examination and the child mother is also responding to the medication and soon she will be discharged,” Mr Nokorach said. 

 

                 Thé Mulindwas Communication Group
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