PC2043: Infants Are Not Commodities: A Study of Awareness of Infant Farming Among Adolescents in Southern Nigeria

Background: There is increasing concern about the prevalence of infant farming or trading in Nigeria, leading to the attrition of values attached to the birth of a child. The continued spread of this inhuman activity could have potentially devastating consequences, including abandonment and abuse of children. Findings from a study show that the prevalence of infant trade was high among pregnant adolescents. The prevalence of human trafficking, abuse, and sexual violence within Africa cannot be divorced from the growing practice of baby factories in Nigeria (1). The first case of baby farming in Nigeria was reported by the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) policy paper in 2006 (2)

Methods: Our study utilized a descriptive survey in which 800 respondents comprised adolescent girls of childbearing age from southern states of rural Nigeria with minimum primary education. They were randomly selected from 4 south-eastern states. Data was collected using a 25-item questionnaire with a reliability coefficient (α=0.80) constructed on a four-point Likert scale. The researcher recruited ten research assistants who speak the local language and helped ease the data collection process. The girls were asked to complete a brief questionnaire lasting around 10 minutes.

Results: About 40% of the girls did not know about infant trading or baby factory, 40% had knowledge, 10% knew someone who had traded a baby, and 10% were not sure. Among the respondents, only about 1% knew someone who was a victim of infant commercialization, i.e., unwittingly gave up the baby without her knowledge.

Conclusion: The lack of knowledge of the infant trade, a social issue among this vulnerable population, is alarming as these girls are at risk of being recruited into this trade. A holistic approach is needed to solve this problem because the leading cause of infant trading in the surveyed states includes poverty, childlessness, cultural beliefs about infertility, unethical behavior of medical professionals, and greed. We recommend that the government and all relevant stakeholders provide counseling services and education to adolescent girls in these areas to help them develop a positive self-image to forestall becoming victims of baby farming. Furthermore, couples with infertility problems should be encouraged to proper adoption procedures or assisted conception.