Don’t use cow urine to treat infant epilepsy, Kwara warns mothers

Many babies have died from cow urine medication in Kwara state.

The Kwara State Government on Saturday warned mothers in the state to desist from administering cow urine and other herbal concoctions on infants as a cure for epilepsy.

The Kwara State Commissioner for Health, Issa Kayode, said the warning became necessary in view of the number of deaths recorded in recent times among infants as a result of the use of the therapy.

The commissioner, who was speaking at the onset of a week-long Maternal and Neonatal Child Week programme at the Children’s Specialist Hospital, Ilorin, said the deaths occurred often as a result of the administration of herbal concoctions on the victims.

“A lot of emergency cases has been reported in the hospital, where several parents brought their babies in an unconscious state after giving them herbs, popularly known as ‘agbo’,’’ Mr. Kayode said. “These children were brought in a state of `lethargic prostration’, leading to respiratory distress, which required the administration of oxygen on the children to resuscitate them. “

He warned mothers to desist from such practices, saying they should rather embrace modern medical prescriptions to treat their children of epilepsy cases.

Represented by the Special Assistant to Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed on Secondary Health Issues, Ibrahim Gambari, the Commissioner said that most parents were ignorant of the health implications of ingesting cow urine and other herbal concoctions.

He said that the Maternal and Neonatal Child Week programme would also deal with nutritional assessment of babies, while giving them the necessary dietary requirements, adding that government had made de-worming medication and Vitamin `A’ drugs available in the Children Specialist Hospital.

He said government’s gesture was aimed at achieving Goals 4 and 5 of the Millennium Development Goals, MDGs, which specifically advocated the reduction of child and maternal mortality in the society.