UNFPA: Most of the girls and women rescued form Boko haram are pregnant

A large number of Nigerian women and girls recently rescued from militant group Boko Haram appear to be pregnant, Vanguard reports.


An unofficial report said 214 female hostages out of the 234 recently freed from the Sambisa Forest this past weekend showed visible signs of pregnancy. Since 2014, the Islamist group has kidnapped more than 2,000 women and girls. Many of them were forced to work as sex slaves and trained to fight, Amnesty Internationalreports. Babatunde Osotimehin, executive director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) recently explained that the organization will be providing both psychological counseling and assistance to the pregnant women and girls.

“UNFPA is providing dignity for women. In conflict and disasters, most people would only think of water and sanitation, provisions of tents and housing and food, which are all important. But women and girls have specific needs that nobody else looks after; it is only UNFPA that is doing this,” Osotimehin told Vanguard on Monday.

“We will always have pregnant women, but nobody segregates the needs of the pregnant women, which are very important and different from the needs of the average community. We look after them and ensure they get antenatal care and that they deliver properly and that they even get cesarean section when necessary.”

As for their counseling needs, Osotimehin shared that due to the extensive time spent in captivity, the hostages are facing some pretty huge psychological hurdles.

“What we found is that some of the women and girls that have come back actually have much more in terms of the stress they have faced, so the counselling has to be more intense and working with them one-on-one.”