To not miss anything of the news african, subscribe to the newsletter of the “World Africa” from this link. Every Saturday at 6 hours, for a week of news and debates addressed by the drafting of the ” World Africa “.
awareness-raising Session at the family planning moderated by the person in charge of a mobile team of Marie Stopes international, Saint-Louis, in September 2017. NICK LOOMIS/MARIE STOPES INTERNATIONAL
” I wanted to have the time to take care of my children and my health. “At the exit of the small consultation room, a health post of Rufisque, in the suburbs of Dakar, Nour Fall is said relieved. The mother of four children was able to choose the method of contraception that suits him : the implant that will be active for the next five years.
Presentation of our series on Health in Africa : women and children first !
in The course of the day, some thirty women will refer to the two midwives sent in reinforcement in the centre, usually staffed by a single nurse. Both are working for the NGO Marie Stopes International (MSI), including the eleven teams mobile criss-cross the territory of senegal based on existing health structures, to provide women with a free access to care : family planning, screening for cervical cancer of the uterus, or treatment of sexually transmitted infections.
Decrease
These activities, however, had already fallen at the beginning of the pandemic caused by the coronavirus. 16 600 women had been taken in charge in the first quarter of 2020, there were 7 683 in the second quarter, a period when the first wave of contamination has hit the Senegal. “We have been concerned about this drop in attendance because the needs are the same, note Salimata Diouf, Cisse, director of MSI in Senegal. Continuity of service is essential, for example, to support the women who cannot tolerate the side effects of a contraceptive is not suitable. The risk is that they stop taking it. “
however, the Senegal, which was 4.6 children per woman in 2018 according to the world Bank, is only just beginning to see the results of his efforts in the field of family planning. If the country has not achieved the objective set by the government, 45 % of contraceptive prevalence rate in 2020, he is risen from 16 % to 26 % between 2012 and 2020. A race to the bottom that he must not stop, at the risk of undermining the progress. “The women were afraid of contracting the virus by attending health facilities. We had to adapt to continue the service of the mobile teams, but also the home visits, and talks while respecting the measures barriers, ” says Gaëlle Diop, head of operations of the NGO.
Episode 1 In Mali, the “angels of the door-to-door” caring for the poor neighborhoods of Bamako
Has Rufisque, the small courtyard sandy in front of the health post is usually filled. Now, the women are divided on plastic chairs spaced or sitting a metre away on the benches in the waiting room. The driver of the mobile team is transformed into a responsible Covid-19 : it requires the washing of the hands at the entrance and check that the mask is properly placed on the face. A protocol that reassures women who came to consult : they are close to 20-500 to be received in the last quarter of 2020.
not interrupt the care is all the more important that social barriers, cultural and religious begin to get up. “In Dakar, the family planning is really no longer a taboo “, and welcomes Coumba Dieng, coordinator of the mobile teams. Moreover, here one speaks of the “client” and not “patients” not to assimilate the family planning to a disease.
The word of the godmothers of district
” The husbands often say that religion cannot be limited to pregnancies. But we offer the spacing of births, it is different, ” says Awa Diouf, equipped with a briefcase full of different contraceptives so that women can see and touch. “I reassured them and I answer their concerns regarding the side effects. We discuss, confidentially, to ensure that they make a choice to be free and informed, ” details the midwife.
Read The great solitude of the african women in the face of the Covid-19
in order To achieve a maximum of women, the health teams rely on the community-based actors and, in particular, on the badiénou gokh, the “godmothers of district” in which the word is being heard. This is one of them, which prevented Oumy Ndiaye of the presence of the midwives on this day in the neighborhood. “I come for a screening of the cervix because I have pain everywhere in the body and especially in the left breast,” said the mother of a family of 47-year-old.
So that it is not always easy to talk about the body, sexuality or contraception, the community-based actors can raise the awareness of women, but also husbands and mothers-in-law that have an influence on their choice. A work of near critical rendered more complicated since the crisis due to the Covid-19. The talks were reduced to only fifteen women to avoid large gatherings.
Contents of our series ” Health in Africa : women and children first ! “
This is a warning that is almost unnoticed. In September 2020, the united Nations warned that thirty years of “remarkable progress” in terms of maternal and child health were likely to be ” reduced to nil by the health crisis due to Covid-19. The fear of being contaminated on the place of consultation, the lower income families, the limits to travel, but also the problems of the supply of drugs, vaccines, contraceptives, and medical devices have severely disrupted access to health care. Giving the centre of the challenges the continuity of health services is essential.
The World Africa presents a series of stories in Mali, Togo and Senegal to tell the resilience of health systems on the continent.
Presentation of our series on Health in Africa : women and children first ! Episode 1 In Mali, the “angels of the door-to-door” caring for the poor neighborhoods of Bamako Episode 2 In Senegal, the family planning, an even greater challenge in a time of Covid-19 Episode 3, In the north of Togo, thanks to the free health care, ” this is the day and the night, for the women and children
This article is part of a series carried out in the framework of a partnership with Cartier Philanthropy.
Contribute to Sharing Sharing is disabled, Sharing disabled Sharing disabled Send by e-mail Sharing disabled Sharing disabled Sharing disabled Sharing disabled
