Date: 2019-03-22

Image result for PAEDIATRICIAN IMAGEDr Titilola Akintade, a Consultant Paediatrician at the Children Specialist Hospital, Ilorin, has urged parents of children with down syndrome not to hide them but to take them to hospitals for proper care.

Akintade made the call on Thursday, while speaking with newsmen, on the sideline of the World Down Syndrome Day in Ilorin, with the theme: "Leave no one behind,"

The expert in children's health, explained that it was the right of every child to be cared for, adding that children with Down syndrome required a multi-disciplinary health care approach.

According to her, children with down syndrome have many health challenges, including internal organs abnormalities, recurrent infection, heart failure, mental retardation and stunted growth among others.

The Paediatrician pointed out that children with this condition needed physiotherapy, adding that they tended to age more than normal people.

Akintade described down syndrome as a congenital disorder arising from a chromosome defect.

"Down syndrome also causes intellectual impairment and physical abnormalities including short stature and a broad facial profile," she said.

The consultant explained that risk factor observed, showed that older women tend to give birth to children with the condition.

However, she added that there have been known cases of younger women also giving birth to babies with down syndrome.

Akintade disclosed that in Nigeria, incident of down syndrome occurrence is one in every 865 live births, adding that 70 to 75 per cent of babies with down syndrome ended up never coming to term or spontaneously got aborted.

The expert observed that the condition was incurable but can be detected by taking sample of the placenta, which would indicate whether a baby had the condition or not.

The paediatrician, therefore, called for special attention for children with down syndrome, and stressed the need to love and integrate them in the society.

According to her, they are usually happy and lovable children.