Baby rescued from pit toilet
Published: April 24, 2006
A NEWBORN baby was rescued from a pit toilet in Buca Bay at the weekend.
The child was rescued by a 52-year-old labourer from the same settlement.
The child’s mother has been admitted to hospital.
Police are now awaiting the 29-year-old woman’s full recovery before interviewing her.
Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre Co-ordinator Shamima Ali said young women who became pregnant out of wedlock or were abandoned by their spouses needed to be shown moral support by their relatives and spouses.
“It shouldn’t be done. It is a criminal act but we should also be looking at the root cause of the problem instead of just skimming the surface,” she said.
Ms Ali said there was a need for increased sexual and reproductive educational programs in schools.
She urged parents to be better mentors for their children helping stop mothers from abandoning newborn babies.
This is the second case of a baby being abandoned in toilets within three weeks, with a similar case recorded in Labasa last month.
A cleaner discovered the dead body of a foetus inside a municipal toilet in Labasa on March 27. There had been a few other cases of abandoned babies since January.
Ms Ali said there was a need to introduce informative and relevant programs into the schools system to better prepare youths for the challenges like unwanted pregnancies that lay ahead.
“We are talking about women becoming pregnant out of wedlock and these women are more or less stigmatised by relatives,” she said.
“And men need to be more responsible in providing the necessary moral and psychological support for women, many of whom are abandoned when the man finds out about the pregnancy,” said Ms Ali.
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