HEALTH IMPLICATIONS OF WIDOWHOOD PRACTICES AMONG IGBO WIDOWS OF SOUTH EASTERN NIGERIA: SOCIAL STUDIES EDUCATION CONCERNS

This study x-rays the health implications of widowhood practices among the Igbos of Nigeria. Widowhood practices amount to culturally prescribed norms, which subjects widows to ritual torture, seclusion and deprivation on the loss of their husbands. The outstanding health implications are depression, emotional anxiety, fear, high blood pressure, traumatising, dejection, social discrimination and the obvious possibility of contacting and spreading of various kinds of infectious diseases as a result of exposure to dead bodies, unhygienic food and contaminated environment. In addition, widows experience mental retardation, physical body deterioration, deprivation, abuse of fundamental human rights, denial of adequate healthcare, among others. Social studies education as a compulsory discipline running across all levels of education in Nigeria is expected to intensify health education in content and practice. Social studies as a societal problem fields of study is expected to teach values, provide information and knowledge against widowhood practices through publications, field trips, health talks and sensitisation of the public on the health consequences of widowhood practices in Igboland. It is recommended that widowhood practices in Igboland should be moderated because of the health risks; widows should be given ample access to healthcare, rehabilitated through entrepreneurial training and counselling.