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Stories from the Frontlines: Saving Lives through Improved Reproductive Health   
April 29, 2010 — Studies show that when a woman has access to family planning and reproductive health services, she has a healthier pregnancy, healthier children and that the benefits extend throughout her family and entire community. Yet, providing access to quality reproductive health information and services remains a stubborn challenge in many countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. For example, in Pakistan, there are over 50 million people who want access to family planning but cannot get services. In Nigeria, women have a 1 in 18 lifetime risk of dying in childbirth for reasons that include frequent, high-risk births and the lack of emergency obstetric care. These stories are repeated around the world. Early marriage and child bearing, closely spaced and frequent pregnancies, inadequate health care, and the lack of family planning and reproductive health services take a heavy toll on women’s health. The good news is that there are women leaders on the frontlines of this crisis who are saving lives and building a groundswell of support in their communities for improved reproductive health care. CEDPA and Population Connection, with funding from the United Nations Foundation, have brought two women leading reproductive health programs in Pakistan and Nigeria to the United States to talk about their work. "For those who believe Pakistan is too chaotic and nothing will work there...trust those of us who are in the frontlines. We know what is needed." So said Nabila Zar Malick, the advocacy director for Pakistan's largest family planning network, to over 100 attendees of an April 29 briefing at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C., the first stop in a four-city tour. Her organization provides family planning and reproductive health services to nearly 10 percent of Pakistan's majority Muslim population, including women, men and youth. Despite ongoing conflict, conservative religious attitudes, and limited resources, Nabila explained that "the problems are enormous but not insurmountable." She said that the biggest opportunity for changing attitudes is to reach youth, as "60 percent of Pakistan's entire population is below the age of 29...this is the time to give them information and services to develop healthy and responsible attitudes towards reproductive health."
Karima Tunau, an OB-GYN from northwestern Nigeria, agrees that there is hope for a healthier future for women and their families. "We now have a significant number of women who come together with their husbands [to our family planning clinic],” she said. “It is not the usual practice for Muslim wives to be seen with their husbands in family planning facilities...[but]...As couples learn about the positive impact of family planning, that it improves the health of a woman and her newborn, that it spaces children to the healthiest intervals, we find that acceptance of family planning increases." Nabila and Karima will be sharing examples from their work, and their stories of lives saved, in these upcoming cities:
To learn more about these events and to RSVP, contact CEDPA at rsvp@cedpa.org. Learn more about CEDPA's work in reproductive health and its training programs for emerging women leaders. |
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