Sexual Violence and Victim Blaming in Nigeria

Aims and Objectives To determine the trend and pattern of sexual violence and victim blaming in Nigeria, which is associated with a range of health consequences, to publish the trend and proffer solutions on how to stem the tide. Methods Questionnaires were administered to individuals physically by hand as well as electronically via online social media groups. Results In this study carried out between July 2019 and August 2020, the opinion of 251 respondents comprising 153 males (61%) and 98 females (39%) between ages 23 and 60 years, were sought concerning who to blame in a sexual violence event: 150 (60%) comprising 120 males (45%) and 30 females (15%) blamed the victim: 80 (31%) comprising 26 males (10%) and 54 females (21%) blamed the perpetrators, while 21 (9%) comprising 7 males (3%) and 14 females (6%) were indifferent. Conclusion Victim blaming is prevalent in Nigeria and this has been one of the major factors that make sexual violence the fastest growing crime in this most populated Sub-Saharan African Country.

“What is Measured Matters” and “What Matters should be Measured”

Breastfeeding is unique to a woman, and as many women’s issues, has been relegated to the unrecognized and largely unsupported “women’s work” by our United States health care system and society. Breastfeeding is an important indicator and promoter of health status for both mother and child. Breastfeeding’s potency as a health indicator and protector of health makes it deserving of accurate and comprehensive assessment, documentation, and monitoring. Increasing breastfeeding continuation rates for greater dose-related benefits is part of our national Healthy People 2030 goals, but we are underperforming and haphazard in breastfeeding data assessment and documentation needed to guide our actions in accordance with our goals. Accurate, comprehensive and real-time breastfeeding data is urgently needed in order to assess and manage breastfeeding support resources and actions to increase breastfeeding rates.

The Right to Abortion in North Macedonia

Equitable access to safe abortion is part of the corpus of human rights. Providing women with access to safe abortion means protection and realization of one of their fundamental human rights. However, around the world, even nowadays, women face not only legal obstacles, but as well stigmatization and conviction against fulfillment of the right to abortion. In North Macedonia there a multiple type of barriers and large inequalities related to the accessibility and availability of reproductive healthcare services. Women with low socio-economic status are mostly affected. The need for contraception has not been met and reproductive healthcare services are unevenly distributed across the country.

Surrogacy: A Novelty Concept in North Macedonia

Surrogacy has existed since ancient times. Depending on the way of creating an embryo, two types of surrogacy differ, traditional and gestational. When it comes to monetary compensation, two types of surrogacy exist, altruistic and commercialized. A lot of questions come to light such as: Is the altruistic surrogacy a humane gesture for all contracted parties? What if the mother changes her mind? Do the babies born of surrogacy mothers have rights? In North Macedonia, surrogacy was introduced for the first time in 2014 in the amended Law on Biomedicine and Assisted Fertilization. It was a novelty having in mind that in the Law of 2008 the surrogacy as a practice was outlawed. The amended law applies the term gestational mother and provides a liberal stance, but many provisions are unclear.

Determining Factors Associated with Sexual Behavior and Undesired Outcomes in Urban,Young, Adult Female Populations: A Comparative Study

Background Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and unwanted pregnancies affect adolescent females annually. This study’s objective was to determine factors leading to disproportionate risk of STIs and unplanned pregnancies utilizing a survey to compare a presumed high-risk urban female population with an age-matched expected low-risk urban female population. Methods Adolescent women ages 18-24 were surveyed during 2017 utilizing a qualtrics survey. The survey was given at a local urban university and participating students received research credit. The survey was also given at an urban Emergency Department (ED) using an iPad to participants during their visit. The main outcomes measured were STI and unplanned pregnancy rates. Results The ED cohort had higher rates of chlamydia (52% vs 5%), gonorrhea (20% vs 0%), trichomoniasis (30% vs 2%), pregnancy (60% vs 2%), and perceived themselves to be a higher-risk for pregnancy (3.4 vs 1.9) than the University cohort. They were younger the first time they had vaginal sex (15.6 vs 16.3-years), though median age of first oral sex was similar between groups. The ED cohort was older (21.4-years-old vs 19.1-years-old) and more likely to be non-white (64% vs 6%). There were no differences between the cohorts in regard to educational background and sexual orientation. After adjustments were made, the University cohort was more likely to use condoms and had a lower rate of lifetime partners. Conclusion Young, urban females use condoms and birth control less frequently and have more male partners than an age-matched university population.