Liberia’s Minister of Information, Cultural Affairs and Tourism, Lenn Eugene Nagbe, has cautioned Liberians against stigmatizing infertile women.
Nagbe making remarks at a one-day Media Health Training workshop organized by the Merck Foundation in collaboration with the Office of the First Lady of Liberia in Monrovia, said stigmatizing infertile women undermines their contributions toward the growth and development of any nation, and Liberia is not an exception.
According to Nagbe, stigmatization against infertile women is as the result of lack of awareness or ignorance about the causes of infertility.
He indicated that proper information about infertility among women and men will help to prevent stigmatization against people who suffer the condition.
Nagbe pointed out that the training of Liberian journalists on issues relating to infertility among men and women in Africa will enhance public education on public health matters, most especially infertility.
“We have observed that women are being stigmatized in communities because they cannot have children, this is wrong. Once you stigmatize infertile women, you make them outcasts in the society, and so we need to stop the stigma against infertile women and men and encourage them,” Nagbe stated.
He, however, encouraged journalists participating in the training to take advantage of it and see it as a means to provide adequate information to the public about infertility and related matters, indicating that “The necessary information given to the public will help reduce the perception of people when it comes to infertility in Africa.”
He thanked the Merck Foundation for the initiative, adding that the training of Liberian journalists is “a great step in helping to eradicate infertility stigma in Africa.”
