- Boy of eight held at Paris airport for more than a week
Nigeria has recorded the birth of its first baby conceived through the oocyte (egg) freezing protocol.
The feat was recorded by The Bridge Clinic, Lagos, on February 16, with the delivery of a male child, named Tiwatope.
The oocyte was preserved through cryopreservation, which is the cooling of cells and tissues to sub-zero temperatures to stop biological activity and preserve the cells for future use.
Human oocyte cryopreservation (egg freezing) is a process in which a woman’s eggs (oocytes) are extracted, frozen and stored. Later, when she is ready to become pregnant, the eggs can be thawed, fertilised and transferred to the uterus as embryo.
According to the fertility physician with The Bridge Clinic, Dr. Emmanuel Owie, who broke the news, Tiwatope’s birth was significant in many respects, as he puts the country on the global map in the practice of oocyte cryopreservation, a new offering in the in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) space.
“Before his birth, this new practice seemed to be an exclusive preserve of the developed world of Europe and North America. It is even more significant considering the fact that since the report of the first pregnancy through this protocol in 1986, the practice has resulted in the birth of only about 5,000 babies worldwide,” he stated.
Dr. Owie said Tiwatope’s mother had her eggs frozen using the vitrification, also known as flash-freezing process – the cutting edge technology in cryobiology, where the eggs or oocytes of a woman are dehydrated and the water content replaced with “anti-freeze” solution (cryoprotectants) before freezing. This will prevent the formation of ice crystals, which could destroy the cell.
Tiwatope’s parents had battled infertility for eight years, but the clinic had the mother’s eggs frozen for two months.
Dr. Owie explained: “We fertilised the eggs using a standard technique, known as intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) to overcome the egg shell, which normally gets hardened with freezing.
“The fertilised egg was subsequently transferred into her womb, resulting in the pregnancy of Tiwatope. She had her antenatal care in her family hospital and delivered the baby boy through caesarian section (SC).”
The clinic’s coordinator, Corporate Marketing/Communication and Client Relations, Dr. Ekundayo Omogbehin, said the baby and the mother were in good health.
In the meantime, an unaccompanied eight-year-old boy has been held at Paris’s main airport for more than a week after trying to enter France with false identity papers.
Children’s rights campaigners have accused the French authorities of breaking international child protection laws by refusing to let the youngster join relatives in France.
The boy, who has not been named, was put on a plane to Paris from the Comoros Islands in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of south-east Africa, more than a week ago by his mother who, according to French and African media, wanted him to have a better life.
Carrying just a Spiderman backpack, he was arrested on arriving at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport on 21 March and detained in an airport holding area for those suspected of trying to enter the country illegally, after reportedly producing a French passport in his cousin’s name.
The French appeal court decided he must be held in the waiting area for his own protection.
But Catherine Daoud, a child protection lawyer, told French radio: “The imprisoning of children in the [airport] waiting area, especially young children like this, is against the international convention on child protection signed and ratified by France.”
She added: “Sadly, his is not an unique case. It’s shocking to see a young kid stuck in the same basket as the adults and with the police … for the child it’s a prison.
“What shocks us is that he is shut in. Why is he shut in? We’re talking about a place with bars, it’s no place for a child.”
The French interior ministry said on Wednesday that the boy’s mother had asked for the child to be returned to her.
The authorities were trying to organise for someone to accompany him back to Comoros, but the process had been delayed because of the Easter holiday, a ministry spokesman told the Guardian.
“The boy arrived with a borrowed passport and was in an irregular situation in French territory,” she said.
“This was confirmed by the police and he was placed in the waiting area. The judge for liberty and detention decided it was in the boy’s best interest to keep him in the waiting zone until inquiries could be made.
“The French authorities made contact with his family and his mother said she wanted to take this young boy back.
“On 25 March, the court of appeal decided he should remain in the waiting zone until he could be returned.”
She added: “It’s not for the ministry to question legal decisions. Obviously he is being correctly treated and is with someone from the Red Cross [at the airport].
“We want this child to be returned to his country of origin as his mother has requested, but accompanied this time.”
Daoud said 259 lone minors had been kept in the holding area in 2014. Like adults arriving in France without papers, they can be held for up to 20 days before being admitted or deported.
Isabelle Thieuleux of the organisation La Voix de L’Enfant (A Child’s Voice) was at the court hearing. “We were told the French administration had to be given time to organise the boy’s return to Comoros,” Thieuleux said.
“He left the hearing accompanied by two police officers. His bag was almost bigger than him, he was just a little thing.
“There’s no justification for imprisoning an eight-year-old child who has arrived in the country, and even less for the motive of his own protection. Where’s the protection for a child in such a place?”
Nation with additional report from MSN
