Diseases in Yakurr Local Government, Cross River state

Diseases are various illnesses or ailments that affect human beings generally and in most cases savage the human body as a result of infections.

There are various infections and diseases that affect the world while some are deadly, some are not exactly life threatening but could affect a person’s performance in a various number of activities on a large scale.

This post seeks to enlighten the reader about the major disease that is prevalent in the region of Yakurr in Cross river state.

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There is no society that is devoid of various diseases but in all, there is always one that seems to be quite traceable to a particular region. E.g Aids is quite rampant in South Africa does not mean there are no other diseases affecting the citizens of the country.

In Yakurr local government, the major disease is ‘infertility’. Infertility is the inability of a human being to conceive after having regular unprotected sex.

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It can also be a situation in which a man or woman is unable to contribute to the conception process. It is a situation that no human being especially in the African setting would love to encounter.

It is the dream of every married couple to have kids of their own. It was also one of the divine assignments given to us by God in the bible to procreate and expand on the face of the earth.

In a Nigerian setting, it is the pride of every mother or father of a married individual to carry their grandchildren before their death. This can also contribute to pressure on couples who are finding it difficult to have children of their own.

In most cases, infertility is believed to be a problem that is associated with only females, however that doesn’t seem to be the case in all situations with men also bearing some of the bulk of the inability to give their wives children.

It has been noted that infertility is one of the diseases that is quite prevalent in the country. Surveys have been carried out in various ways parts of the country to further buttress this assertion.

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Yakurr is one of the communities in recent times that it has been discovered that possesses a high rate of infertility with a statistical analysis of 8 percent on an investigation conducted on over one thousand women.

This staggering statistic is believed to be as a result of high rates of sterility, miscarriage, neonatal death and the hazards surrounding pregnancy and childbirth.

Women in the villages of Yakurr region that could not have children were considered as species that were different from the normal breed of people and not In a good way sadly.

Once their husbands and her in-laws had discovered that such a woman could not give her husband children, she would be insulted and called all sorts of derogatory names like ‘men’ , barren, e.t.c. it was definitely a heart-wrenching experience that befell this women during such periods.

It has been discovered from true life stories that some of these cases have been caused by men but still all the blame is placed on the woman.

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The community understood the pains which these women were going through and also tried to help these women, that was why they decided to start reserving a ‘special ritual’ to help infertile women conceive and achieve full marital status.

From the latter part of the previous sentence, one can conceive that these ladies were not considered as completely married if they were not able to give birth to children.

Lopon, one of the wards in Yakurr ensure that ladies who are about to become brides carry out a circumcision process while the married brides who had found it difficult to conceive were made to carry out a ‘special circumcision’ process known as ‘kekpolpam’.

This process encompassed a lot of special prayers and rituals that are believed to be able to chase away her predicament.

The Lopon village is a very supportive community for women going through this situation. Due to the high rate of infertility in the Yakurr community, polygamy has been highly encouraged because it is very difficult for the woman to have more than one husband and also leave her husband.

Instead of having to do one or the other, they rather stick with their husbands while they marry as many wives as they like. Most women who are unable to have children are rather divorced by their husbands. Such women return to their paternal homes till they are able to remarry.

Various infertile women in the Yakurr region look for various ways to remedy the situation which they are passing through.

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They look for answers in various local healers and traditional medicines while the ones that are a little bit exposed go for biomedical treatment.

Some are not sure of the particular means to attack the predicament so they opt to go for both traditional means and biomedical means.

However, in recent times, the advent of Christianity and the widespread of churches within the region, traditional means have been foregone by most of the ladies that experience infertility.

The churches were not exactly happy with the customs of the Yakurr, so they dissuaded their members from further partaking in the traditional methods which they were used to.

They were rather encouraged to embrace the Christian beliefs and modes by prayers and total believe in God.
In the quest to cure infertility, lots of women try various means just to get rid of the problem and those that are not sure they are the ones with the problem start engaging in sex with multiple partners and could attract a lot of sexual transmitted diseases to themselves and their spouses.

The following are some of the ways by which the disease can be treated and it includes: counselling, fertility medications, surgery or a combination of the afore mentioned points depending on the cause of the infertility.

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