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Calls Rise to End Breast Ironing in Abuja Community

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by  Hadiza Abdulrahman Picture AI Generated  Watch: Teni Powa explains how breast ironing is carried out  VIDEO: Hadiza Abdulrahman Teni Powa admitted that she once practised breast ironing on her daughter but stopped after awareness campaigns reached Pigba. For her, it was simply a tradition passed down by her grandparents, something she believed was meant to protect. It wasn’t until she learnt the medical risks that she realised the pain she could have caused her daughter. However, her daughter, the victim, was not home at the time of the interview “As a girl child, they don’t want you to spoil, they don’t want you to follow men, and they don’t want you to be attractive to men,” said Ruth Ibrahim, secretary of the Pigba Sama Community. “They believe when your breasts start coming up, it will make men come closer to you and make you disrespect your parents. That’s why they carry out this practice.” Ruth recalled the case of a woman in the community who complained that br...
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Closure of Only Clinic Leaves IDP Women Vulnerable

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  By Hadiza Abdulrahman  Front view of the abandoned mobile clinic, now used as a spot for relaxation and a dumping ground for waste and farm produce. Photo: Hadiza Abdulrahman Since November 18, 2022, the only operational clinic serving thousands of displaced people in the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Camp Wass on the outskirts of Abuja has remained shut. The closure followed an altercation between camp residents and a healthcare worker accused of diverting donated drugs for personal gain. “We had issues with the health worker. My people wanted to beat him because they believed he was stealing and selling the drugs. So, AMAC (Abuja Municipal Area Council) removed their health worker and locked the clinic,” said Usman Ibrahim, Secretary of the Wassa IDP Camp. “We found records that confirmed the allegations were not true. Some drugs were still in the clinic, but they had expired,” he noted. Adding, “Though tensions were eventually resolved and the same health worker occa...
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