An alarm has been raised following the high number of boys being born with manhood defects in Kiambu County.
According to a study conducted by the University of Nairobi (UoN) recently, the trend has increased to alarming levels.
The study indicated that reproductive organ defects in boys accounts for the highest levels of birth abnormalities among boys.
The condition is known as “hypospadias” which the study described as a rare medical condition where the male opening for urinating is on the underside of the penis instead of at the tip, reports the Standard.
George Nyadimo Agot, Marshal Mutinda Mweu and Joseph Kibuchi Wang’ombe of the University of Nairobi carried out the study which was published in the Pan African Medical Journal.
They carried out the study on birth effects in Kiambu County between 2014 and 2018. The three researchers termed this a “silent epidemic” eating through one of the densely populated regions in Central Kenya.
“There was a steady annual increase in the prevalence estimates of various physical defects in children during the study period,” the study indicated.
In 2014, out of every 100,000 births, there were 44 birth defects recorded but four years later – in 2018 – this number increased to 205.
The researchers noted that of the huge number of the defects, musculoskeletal and the nervous systems accounted for the highest number of this epidemic.
The study explained that the nervous system defects affect the brain and spinal cord while those of musculoskeletal system involved the skeleton, muscles, cartilage, tendons, ligaments, and joints.
In Kiambu alone, musculoskeletal defects have increased by a third 1984.
Although hypospadias was the most common birth defect among boys in Kiambu, epispadias which is another reproductive organ defect was equally common.
“Further, this study found epispadias, another defect of the male genital organ, was similarly common in Kiambu County.”
Epispadias is a condition characterized by the urethra opening on the top of the penis rather than the tip.
Both epispadias and hypospadias have close ties with obese mothers who deliver at the age of 35 and above.
Among them, those who have been exposed to harmful chemicals such as pesticides, industrial chemicals and hormones while carrying the pregnancy delivered baby boys with these two defects.
With the findings, the three UoN researchers said that obese women in Kiambu could be highly vulnerable to all these chemicals given that Kiambu is a highly agricultural area.
“These findings point to possible increased exposure of women of reproductive age to teratogenic chemicals, metals and preconception obesity,” suggests the study.
