Feng Kehong in her clinic based in Zambia's capital, Lusaka- Picture by Derrick Silimina
By Derrick Silimina
Zambia
is considering better utilization of its diverse medicinal plants, a worthwhile
lesson learned from China.
Infertility can be stressful
and frustrating for couples the world over; but in Zambia, there is also stigma
attached to barrenness.
After trying for almost two years, Tamara
Chiponge had given up hope that one day she would be able to bear a child of
her own.
On the verge of reaching menopause, Chiponge
became desperate for a child as she could no longer withstand the intense
social stigma and pressure, especially coming from her close companions and
family members.
“I used to put on a false smile to the
public, but inside, I was hurting. I took care of other people's children [and
it got to a] point where my mother-in-law forced me to adopt a two-year-old
child,” she told ChinAfrica.
Infertility on the rise
Zambia's Health and Nutrition Communication
and Advocacy Strategic Plan (2018-21) highlights that gauging from the
prevalence of sexually transmission infections alone, it is estimated that both
primary and secondary infertility rates in the country are of concern.
Gynecologists' say infertility is actually a major public health concern
because it affects one’s mental well-being, disrupts social bonding, lowers
economic productivity and erodes self-confidence.
It is for this reason that Zambia's Health
Minister Chitalu Chilufya recently said the situation calls for great
investment in comprehensive reproductive health, including fertility services.
“Infertility accounts for 10 to 15 percent of
outpatient gynecology's clinic attendance in Zambia, yet access to fertility
services is seriously limited due to the high cost of services,” said Chilufya.
As in many other societies, in Zambia, the
inability to conceive and bear a healthy child is considered to be the fault of
the female partner rather than a problem of the couple. The lack of access to
effective treatment causes much personal suffering, family discord and social
disfunction.
Whyson Munga, Registrar of Department of
Obstetrics and Gynaecology of University Teaching Hospital (UTH), recently
noted that infertility is a huge problem in Zambia. Munga said that out of
every 100 women that visit UTH seeking gynaecology services, about 30 of them
have infertility problems.
Worldwide, both men and women do suffer from
infertility, but culturally, infertile women are at risk of social stigma.
Health experts say infertility refers to failure of a couple to establish
pregnancy after one year of having unprotected and adequate sexual intercourse.
In developing countries such as Zambia, much
as infertility is a health condition, it is also a social problem because from
the perspective of the individual concerned, many unfruitful women consider
that without children, their lives are hopeless.
Chiponge’s condition dates back to her
mid-20s, when she had a severe ectopic pregnancy (a complication of pregnancy
when a fertilized egg grows outside a woman's uterus) somewhere else in her
belly, according to medical experts. They state that if left unchecked, the
condition is life-threatening as excessive bleeding may lead to death, hence
the need for urgent medical care. Consequently, her chances of falling pregnant
were negligible, having only one fallopian tube - she lost the other tube after
an operation.
As an old adage says, desperate situations
call for desperate measures. Chiponge had tried all sorts of medication, not
only conventional medicine, including fertility boosters, but also advanced
infertility treatment called invitro fertilization treatment and African
traditional herbs, in a bid to conceive. But all was in vain.
Acupuncture success
- A female acupuncture model with needles in the shoulder
In Zambia, fertility treatment is
prohibitively expensive for most couples, with some people becoming destitute
trying to pay for it.
Chiponge was first introduced to acupuncture
therapy in 2009 by her younger sister, a friend of Dr. Feng Kehong, a Chinese
medical practitioner who runs Zhong Yi Surgery in Lusaka's Roma suburb.
According to Acupuncture.com (a Chinese
online medical platform), acupuncture is defined as an age-old healing
technique of traditional Chinese medicine in which needles are inserted into
energy points on the human body.
“It was in 2009 when I met Feng. Since I
desperately wanted a baby, after having failed to conceive for more than 15
years of marriage, I was put on acupuncture therapy for three months and the
following year [2010] I conceived,” she said, adding she was 46 years old at
that time.
Having concerns about infertility in a world
that needs vigorous control of population growth may seem odd, but it's a
choice that many have no control over.
Nathan Mbewe, a Ndola based teacher, recently
survived a protracted stroke because of the acupuncture therapy he got from
Feng.
“I had a stroke for some time and might have
died had it not been for Chinese specialized treatment I got here,” he said,
adding that acupuncture worked wonders on him.
Mbewe said he has been recommending anyone
with chronic illness to seek acupuncture treatment, and they have reported
progressive results. A truck driver based in the Zambian capital of Lusaka is
also impressed with acupuncture after having recovered from his swelling feet
that almost rendered him jobless.
“Due to the long-distance driving, I used to
have constant swelling in my feet,” said Andrew Mulenga. “This affected my
work, until a colleague advised me to consult Feng to try Chinese medicine
after an attempt at conventional medicine failed,” he said.
At first, Mulenga questioned whether
acupuncture was real and doubted that pricking needles into his body would
change anything. But, to his amazement, after a few sessions, his condition
started improving.
Helping with needles
According to Feng, who has been in Zambia
since 2001, initially working as a doctor in two of Zambia's general hospitals
before opening her own clinic, she is delighted that a lot of people are being
helped through acupuncture in Zambia.
To help her cope with the increase in
patients, Feng has trained a local assistance, Nelly Banda, to work with the
needles.
Despite Chiponge having reached menopause,
she successfully gave birth naturally to a bouncy baby girl who is now a
healthy nine-year-old.
Feng said some of the known diseases that she
has treated successfully include hypertension, stroke, diabetes, infertility
and sexually transmittable diseases.
Officially, acupuncture has the accreditation
of Zambia’s medical council, as the Zambian Government recognizes traditional
and complementary/alternative medicine.
Although there are no official regulatory
measures for recognizing the qualifications of practitioners, the Traditional
Health Practitioners Association of Zambia reviews and registers traditional
practitioners for licensing and plans are under way to develop such
regulations.
Reminiscing about the time when Chiponge, now
56 years of age, came to seek fertility services at her surgery despite her
older age, Feng said she was hesitant to help.
“I was hesitant to work on Chiponge; but
after recommending acupuncture therapy on her, within a few months, she came
back so excited and informed me she was pregnant,” said Feng. “You see, a lot
of diseases could be treated through acupuncture and I have seen this happen
over the years to many patients that I have attended to.”
Derrick Silimina is an award-winning multimedia journalist based in Lusaka, Zambia. His work has appeared on many media outlets in Zambia and abroad.
No comments:
Post a Comment