Women have been advised to be mindful of their sleep position during pregnancy and to avoid sleeping on their stomach or back to avoid complications. According to an Abuja-based gynaecologist, Dr. Philips Ekpe, it is important for women to avoid any sleep position that would make the uterus compress either on the blood vessel or on the bladder, especially when the pregnancy is advanced.

Speaking in an interview with PUNCH Healthwise, the medic, who is a former Secretary-General of the Nigerian Medical Association, said the best sleeping position is to lie on any of the sides.

Medical experts have described appendicitis as one of the leading causes of surgical emergency admission in most hospitals, warning that delayed appendicectomy, may lead to ruptured appendicitis complications, which can cause infections and even death.

According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, appendicectomy is a medical term used for the surgical removal of an infected appendix – a finger-shaped pouch that sticks out from the colon on the lower right side of the belly, also called the abdomen.

Child health experts have advised parents to limit the number of visitors their newborns come in close contact with to avoid exposing them to infection as their immunity is not yet strong enough to fight infections.

According to the physicians, it is wrong for parents to allow extended family and friends, unrestricted access to their babies citing high vulnerability to diseases. They said though there is no one-size-fits-all approach to visiting a newborn, it is important for new parents to set boundaries and take precautions so their new baby can stay healthy.

Maternal health experts have said pregnant women need adequate and balanced diets to build their immune system in order to effectively fight against anaemia and bleeding which often lead to poor pregnancy outcomes.

The gynaecologists said pregnant women must eat good diets containing both macronutrients and micronutrients to be able to overcome some of the complications associated with childbirth.

Maternal health experts say women with chronic diseases such as cancer, hypertension, sickle cell anaemia, diabetes and heart disease should avoid having too many children, warning that they are prone to serious complications during pregnancy and childbirth.

They said women with chronic diseases, who try to have many children stand the risk of death and advised on a maximum of three children. The gynaecologists, however, said women giving birth to many children without underlying health conditions are likewise endangering their lives, as many pregnancies place a heavy burden on a woman,

A maternal health expert, Dr. Labaran Aliyu, says a woman cannot be pregnant and be menstruating at the same time, warning that any bleeding that is seen after the confirmation of pregnancy is dangerous and might be a sign that the placenta is located in an abnormal place, a condition known as placenta previa.

Aliyu, who is an Obstetrician and Gynaecologist at the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano State, noted that bleeding during pregnancy is an indication of complications while advising pregnant women experiencing such to see an expert in a hospital for appropriate evaluation and treatment.

The Lagos State Government has introduced an anti-cancer vaccine, Human PapillomaVirus vaccine into the state’s routine immunisation schedule to tackle the increasing rate of cervical, anal, and oropharyngeal cancers.

The Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Primary Health Care Board, Dr. Ibrahim  Mustafa, said the state government in collaboration with the National Primary Health Care Development Agency and development partners will be commencing the HPV campaign for all girls aged nine to 14 years as one of the phase 1 state routine immunisation in Nigeria.

The practice of lying down to breastfeed has been frowned upon by experts and they warn that such could lead to complications, suffocation and even death for an infant.

They noted that many nursing mothers, who try to breastfeed while lying down tend to doze off due to tiredness, leaving the babies to struggle with the weight of their mothers’ breasts, which in some cases, leads to suffocation, especially when the breasts are big.

Unexplained breast enlargements in men, known medically as gynecomastia, may be an indication of damage to the liver or testicles, medical experts say. They also attributed it to an imbalance in body hormones – testosterone and estrogen and urged men to always pay attention to their breasts to notice when it starts becoming bigger than normal.

Cleveland Clinic, an online health portal, noted that gynecomastia can often be due to an imbalance of testosterone and estrogen hormones and that certain medications or diseases can cause male breast tissue to swell and get bigger.

Medical experts have warned that the age-long practice of vaginal douching to maintain personal hygiene or for aesthetic reasons is dangerous as many studies have linked it to a number of harmful health outcomes.

They described vaginal douching as the process of using water or liquid solution to cleanse the vagina after menstruation, or before and after sexual intercourse to prevent pregnancy, odour or infections.