The Sunday News
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Robin Muchetu, Senior Reporter
CHILDREN who are sexually molested when they are very young tend to commence puberty early with suspicions that the pregnant nine-year-old from Tsholotsho District in Matabeleland North could have been sexually violated from an early stage before the abuse was detected in August this year.
Professor Solwayo Ngwenya a renowned obstetrician and gynecologist from Bulawayo said precocious puberty (the appearance of physical and hormonal pubertal development at an earlier stage than is considered normal) occurs with girls developing at age six earliest. Prof Ngwenya said 95 percent of the times precocious puberty is idiopathic.
“If it is idiopathic, we mean that the cause cannot be found, 95 percent of the time. Then there are other causes like brain tumors, previous infections and hormonal imbalance, these can also cause precocious puberty. In our days now, dietary changes cause children to get into puberty quite early,” he said.
He said the pregnant Tsholotsho child could have begun puberty early following sexual abuse at an early stage.
“Another cause is chronic sexual abuse and simulation causing premature hormone releases, which may lead to precautious puberty. This precocious puberty is the premature trigger of the brain centre which regulates the onset of menstruation, so once this clock is set early, then menstruation will begin due to the mentioned causes,” he said.
Prof Ngwenya said the danger with early puberty is child sexual abuse due to the developing physical features.
Dr Solwayo Ngwenya
“Our main danger is that the girls become victims of sexual abuse by prying men because to them when they see a female with breasts, they are open to sexual abuse and also from a medical point of view, precocious puberty may lead to early closure of the long bones so the patients tend to be of short stature. Obviously, when precocious puberty occurs and persons are abused, it brings a lot of problems of incest, rape, pregnancy and this pregnancy once detected early and they present early to a health institution will lead to a legal termination via a magistrate who authorises that we terminate,” he added.
He said after a child is pregnant it may be complicated by preeclampsia, which is high blood pressure that is dangerous for both mother and baby. He said obstructed labour is also possible, which is a mismatch between the size of the fetus emerging versus the pelvis of the mother causing the baby not to exit the pelvis during childbirth. Prof Ngwenya urged parents that have children that have developed precocious puberty to seek medical help.
“Yes, the years seem to change a bit but the standard child who menstruates below the age of 10 should seek medical advice and the medical specialist should be able to assess the child. There are some injections that are given to stop the menstruation so that it allows the child to grow and not become short. Once they reach the age of 12 or 14 the doctor will withdraw the injections and the child will resume the natural cycle and the injections have no long-term effect on the child. It is crucial because it will prevent all this sexual abuse. Parents must not visit prophets as this is clearly a medical condition and no prophets will be able to solve it and this may actually lead to more sexual abuse for the victims,” he said.
Mr Brighton Ndebele, the probation officer in the Department of Social Development in Tsholotsho said the nine-year-old has not fully disclosed who sexually abused her but investigations are leaning towards the biological father.
“She has not spoken about it yet and we are still trying to get her to open up, but what she said was pinpointing the father but it is not yet very clear, nor do we have concrete evidence for it. She said that the father would tell her time and again that a goblin will come that will have sexual intercourse with her, and question marks were raised as to why the father would always tell the child that. We asked when these goblins would have sexual intercourse with her, she said only when the mother was away. But it is still under investigation and the father is a suspect in the case,” said Mr Ndebele.
@NyembeziMu
