The menace of abuse and neglect of Nigerian children: the need for collective action by stakeholders: a case series

Abstract

Nigerian children, like many others in developing countries, are frequently abused both intentionally and unintentionally, resulting in sustenance of various injuries and sometimes death. This is a case series of three children who suffered various injuries as a result of child abuse. The first is the report of a three-year-old child who was physically and emotionally abused and neglected by her teenage mother, while the second is that of another three-year-old child who had chemical injury to the eyes inflicted by her parents while providing home remedy for convulsions, resulting in bilateral corneal ulcerations with visual impairment. The third report is of a neonate who had burns injury inflicted by a healthcare worker at a maternity home because she failed to cry at birth. These cases are being reported to bring to the forefront the continued presence of child abuse in the community in various guises and to call for individual and collective actions by all stakeholders, including parents/caregivers, health care workers, governmental and non-governmental agencies, to rise up in defense of these children so as to ensure good quality of life for Nigerian children.

Keywords: Child abuse, intentional, unintentional