The one month old daughter of Aminata Saffa from in NJawai Village in Bo Distruct is suffering from imperforate anus defect. The baby is only able to pass stool through her vigina.
"I want Government to help me cure my child," Aminata pleaded for her fourth child.
Speaking to SLBC, Andrew Rogers, a primary school teacher in Bo who is assisting Aminata to secure support, said the mother left her village and moved to Bo town to get help for her baby, but she has no idea where to go.
Rogers led her to the hospital in Bo. But the hospital has referred the case to Freetown, noting that curing the child requires a major surgery that cannot be done in Bo.
"The challenge is that the mother of the child is coming from the village, she does not even understand Bo town let alone talk of Freetown. It is a serious challenge. We are thinking about transportation, logistics, and finance," he said, pleading for help.
Imperforate anus is a condition in which the opening to the anus of a newly born baby is blocked or absent. This defect means the baby has an improperly developed anus, and therefore can't pass stool normally from their rectum out of their body. It happens when a baby is still growing in the womb.
Children with the condition can only pass stool through the wrong place, such as the urethra, vagina, scrotum, or the base of the penis. There has not been any established cause of the condition.
