Central nervous system congenital malformations in a developing country: issues and challenges against their prevention

Abstract

Little or no attention is currently paid to the prevention of CNS congenital anomalies in much of the low- and middle-income countries of the world. There is a great need to regulate the practice of obstetric ultrasonography in Nigeria. There is even a much greater, more fiercely urgent need to ensure periconceptional folic acid supplementation for all women of childbearing age through appropriate food fortification in these societies.

The Prevalence, Trend, and Associated Demographic Factors of Neural Tube Defects at Orotta National Referral Maternity Hospital, Asmara: Retrospective Record Review Study

“…In Africa, several countries have documented a higher frequency of NTD than before; a study conducted by Djientcheu, et. al (2008) and Adeleye, et. al (2010) indicated an incidence rates of 1.99 per 1000 births in Cameroon and 7 per 1000 births in Nigeria [4,6].…”

“…al (2008) and Adeleye, et. al (2010) indicated an incidence rates of 1.99 per 1000 births in Cameroon and 7 per 1000 births in Nigeria [4,6]. Until now there are no studies that are published on prevalence, trend and associated demographic factors of NTD in Eritrea.…”

“…In early to mid 1990's, multiple clinical studies revealed that preconception ingestion of folic acid decreases the risk of NTD as much as by 50-70 percent [4,5]. Therefore, based on the above studies worldwide active implementation of educational campaigns for preconception folic acid supplementation and food fortification for reproductive age women is practice until now [2].…”

Awareness and uptake of measures for preventing CNS birth defects among mothers of affected children in a sub-Saharan African neurosurgeon’s practice

“…It was, however, a much smaller study. And, the conclusions concerning the level of uptake of preventive measures for CNS birth defect in that report were based mainly on inferences drawn from the obstetric behaviors of the respective mothers in the pregnancies concerned [1]. Indeed, there are a number of contemporary studies from Africa which attempted to address the level of awareness of preventive measures for CNS birth defects.…”

“…For certain, the study again reaffirms another suboptimal aspect of the sub-Saharan African reproductive health care, one that is particularly a deterrent to efforts at early diagnosis of screen-detectable intrauterine anomalies: late pregnancy registration (median beyond the first trimester) and equally late commencement of obstetric multivitamin supplements. It also shows the rate of uptake of obstetric ultrasonography that is still comparatively suboptimal, as well as, the performance of this highly essential medical diagnostic test being in an unregulated milieu [1,9,29,33]. Not surprisingly, intrauterine diagnoses of the respective fetal anomalies are hardly made.…”