Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Perspective on Sexual Health and Right

MY Perspective on Sexual Rights and Health

Let me start by sharing with you the real life experience of a female friend of mine who once married. She told me that her unforgettable day was the day her former husband approached her and requested to have sex with her, she declined because she said to him, she was not feeling fine. The husband did not agree with her and decided to tear the cloth she wore and forced her to sex. It was only in the morning she said, after he had finished satisfying himself, he realized she was not well after touching her body and found the body was hot. To that morning, she reported him to his parents but they said to her it’s a normal thing because that is how she can adapt herself as a NEWLY married woman.
Furthermore, Then she later decided to report him to her parents that she was no longer interested in the marriage and her parents after consulting with their son in-law’s parents decided to disengage the marriage. She was in tears when she was telling me the story, and she said to me she does not even want to see any of her former husband’s relatives, she also said to me that she is afraid of getting married to another man because she doesn’t want to experience the same thing which happened to her. After learning from her experience and the subsequent experiences learnt particularly among the participants of National Youth Consultation on Feminism held last year here in Abuja, Nigeria. I decided to stay back to critically and clinically look at the issues of sexual rights and health as it mostly affects the life of girls and women in our society (Nigeria).
Generally, I view rights as indispensable to human existence because they are what human beings requires or entitle to have in order for them to earn a live meaningfully. They include rights such as right to sustainable livelihood, quality basic services such as health, education and also right to be heard and also have identity. These rights are universal, in alienable and indivisible to all human born or alive irrespective of gender, religion, etc. I personally view these rights as indispensable because without them, human beings will live a life that I prefer to term as “empty life” with no purpose of being in existence as human being.
Moreover, my own understanding and at the same time conception of what sexual rights and health is, based on the above experiences, is having a satisfying and safe sex life that is free of violence, discrimination and without hindrance to relationships based on equality, respect and justice, and also have control over and decide freely and responsibly on matters related to your sexuality. These rights should include right to bodily integrity, choose to be sexually activity or not, to have sexual relations that are consensual, right not to be pressured into sexual activity, to get married to one’s own free will, and also rights to information, access to contraception, birth control, fertility regulation, abstinence by informed choices, and prevention and treatment of STI’s including HIV/AIDS.
Conclusively therefore, sexual rights and health are very indispensable to human existence born or alive. These rights should be re-emphasized and humans should be allowed to enjoy them, failure to do these will turn our society to be lawless or even anarchical and by extension morally unstable.

NURA IRO MA’AJI
PROGRAMME MANAGER
GENDER, DEMOCRACY AND GOVERNANCE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIETY FOR YOUTH AWARENESS AND HEALTH DEVELOPMENT, KANO, NIGERIA WITH SUPPORT FROM IWHC USA AND GPI NIGERIA
+2348025699001
nuramaaji2000@yahoo.co.uk

Being a paper presented at the 3rd african conference on “sexual rights and health” held in international conference centre, abuja, nigeria.

Perspective on Open Letter Turai Yar'aduwa

Dear Nura,

What sickens me most is that both Prof. Akunyili and Mrs Yar'adua don't seem to have an alternative source to corroborate their careless statement(s). They have not shown any factual cause to defend their careless assertions. I am disturbed that the highly respected Prof. will associate herself with such an unscientific way of determining data.

They should be more concern in addressing the problem irrespective of whether we are doing badly down below or not. No mother should die giving birth... it is absolutely unacceptable. Mrs Yaradua and Prof should face the very hard reality and make the issue as important as the so called RE-BRANDING of Dear Nigeria or what ever they choose to call it. How can they re -brand Nigeria when they cannot do a simple scientific and credible research on the issue of maternal health.

Yes Nigeria is at the bottom end, it is ranking second lowest after the Democratic Republic of Congo and yes the UNICEF says so, SAVE THE CHILDREN says so, Yes PATHFINDER says so, Yes WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION says so, Yes WORLD POPULATION LIST says so and so many other credible organisations are saying and will continue to say so. More over the Nigerian people see these deaths happening every day. I am not surprised Mrs Yar'adua is saying so because her daughters may never see a Nigerian hospital when they are having their babies.... lucky Nigerians they are!

Dear Nura lets ask them to give us their own version of a credible data assuming they have one!

Sincerely,

Sa'ida Sa’ad 08037876939