CHILD ABUSE

BY
Dr O.H EZEH
DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY MEDICINE
A.B.U ZARIA
 CHILD ABUSE

• Reported child abuse is increasing in Nig.

• Parents typically perceive the children they
abuse as slow, different, bad or difficult to
control.
• Child abuse includes physical and sexual
abuse as well as emotional neglect such as
harsh rejection and severe withholding of
parental love and attention.
 Evidence of physical abuse
• cigarette burns, bruises on buttocks or lower back, and
subdural haematomas Specific evidence of child abuse
includes belt marks, old healed fractures,.

• Sexual abuse of children, (both male and female) has

become more common.
• Evidence of sexual abuse includes genital or anal trauma,
sexually transmitted disease and urinary tract infection.
• Although the individual may not remember that the abuse
took place, sexual abuse predisposes the child to later
anxiety, phobias, depression and an inability to deal with
own and others’ aggression.
Physician’s role in child abuse
cases.
When child neglect or abuse is
suspected, the physician should
intervene, report the case to the
appropriate agency, admit the child
to the hospital when necessary,
confer with members of the child
abuse committee and arrange for
follow up by social service agencies.
Characteristics of physical and sexual
child abuse
1)Physical abuse.
Abuser; Usually female.
Age of child; 32% under age 5 yrs, 27% 5-9 yrs, 27% age
10-15 yrs, 14% age 15-18 yrs.

High risk factors.

-Poverty
-Social isolation
-Substance abuse
-Parents abused as children
-Prematurity, low birth weight.
-Hyperactivity, etc.
 2)Sexual abuse.

Abuser; Usually male and known to the victim

(father, step-father, other relatives, friends), less
commonly strangers.
Age of child; Highest incidence at 9-12 yrs, 25%
under age 8.
 High risk factors

-Single-parent home
-Marital problems
-Substance abuse
-Sick mother
-Crowded living conditions
 CHILD LABOUR
• Child work is work in which the primary emphasis is on
learning, training or socialization. The work schedule is
flexible, tends to be responsive to the developing
capacity of the child and encourages his/her
participation in appropriate aspects of the decision-
making process.
• Child labour is work that is essentially exploitative
and injurious to the health or physical, social, cognitive,
spiritual and moral development of the child. Child
labour occurs when children especially young ones, are
exposed to long hours of work in a dangerous or
unhealthy environment. With too much responsibility
for their age and at the expense of their schooling.
 LABOUR ACT
• The labour act of 1974(revised in 1990) includes a
wide range of provisions (in sections 58-63) prohibiting
or regulating various forms of child labour. Section 59
prohibits a child under the age of 12 from all work
except where he is employed by his family on “light
work of an agricultural, domestic or horticultural
character”.
• It allows apprenticeships from the age of 12
upwards, with the consent of the child’s parents, but
forbids children under the age of 15 from working in
any industrial undertaking.
 CHILD WORK IN THE AGRICULTURAL SECTOR.

• Mainly within the household economy.

• Involves helping the family in farming, fishing,
cattle herding etc.
• Has some negative ramifications.
• Tends to disrupt school attendance especially
during periods of intense agricultural activity
such as planting and harvesting
 CATEGORIES OF WORK IN WHICH
CHILDREN ARE ENGAGED.
3 CATEGORIES.
1. Work in public places (such as markets and
streets).
2. Work in cottage industries and mechanical
workshops.
3. Domestic service in private households
 THOSE WHO WORK IN PUBLIC SETTINGS
INCLUDE;

• Street vendors.
• Shop and market stall minders.
• Beggars.
• Shoe-shine boys.
• Car washers/watchers.
• Scavengers.
• Head-loaders in markets.
• Etc .

• Studies revealed that street hawking is by far the largest

single form of child labour accounting for more than 50% of
total urban child labour
 THOSE WHO WORK IN COTTAGE INDUSTRIES
AND MECHANICAL WORKSHOPS INCLUDE;
• Apprentice mechanics.
• Volcanizers.
• Bus conductors.
• Iron and metal markers.
• Carpenters.
• Tailors.
• Weavers.
• Hair dressers.
• Barbers.
• Etc.
QUESTIONS
*What are the consequences of child labour?
*How would you control/manage/reduce the incidence of child labour
in Nigeria?
THANK YOU