As we celebrate Safe Motherhood Day, White Ribbon Alliance Uganda reveals the results of its ground-breaking What Women Want Campaign, a survey into women’s opinion on their own needs for quality reproductive and maternal healthcare. It is the authentic voice of 90,771 women and girls in 32 districts in Uganda, collected by dedicated mobilizers and partners.
Approximately 300,000 women and girls die during pregnancy and childbirth every year around the world. In Uganda, where the maternal mortality rate stands at 336 per 100,000 live births (UDHS 2016), changing this picture begins with women and girls. Women and girls must receive quality, equitable and dignified care if we are to achieve related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and universal health coverage.
But to provide quality healthcare, we need to understand what quality means to women and girls. Since quality has a huge impact on whether a woman or girl will seek care, the heart of the What Women Want campaign is about understanding quality from women’s and girls’ perspectives.
This Safe Motherhood Day, White Ribbon Alliance Uganda and partners under the What Women Want Uganda Chapter are raising awareness about the quality of reproductive healthcare women and girls need, starting with the top demand from the What Women Want campaign across all age groups: improved quality labour and delivery information, personnel, services and supplies. -more- From the responses, we have seen that quality means different things to different people.
To some, quality means access to a skilled healthcare provider, giving birth in a clean and friendly environment, the ability to space pregnancies or avoid pregnancy, or the opportunity to access sexual and reproductive health information. For others, it is the availability of ramps for those in wheelchairs, treatment free from discrimination, affordable healthcare, or care that is confidential and private.
Prossy Kesiime, 34, from Rukungiri District participated in the campaign after having given birth in the middle of the night in Queen Elizabeth National Game Park, surrounded by wildlife and fearing for her life. When she heard about the What Women Want campaign, she realized this was an opportunity to make sure that health planners and policymakers heard her story, so they could provide the services women need closer to where they live, allowing them to access the care they deserve without making such terrifying journeys.
The What Women Want campaign will help governments, health professionals, private health providers and civil society organizations to better understand what is most important to women when it comes to their healthcare needs and push for required changes.
White Ribbon Alliance and partners under the What Women Want Uganda Chapter are calling on stakeholders to take advantage of this rich information to amplify the voices of women and girls and use it to make their healthcare efforts more responsive and effective. White Ribbon Alliance Uganda National Coordinator Robina Biteyi says, “We must listen to the opinions of women and girls about their health, because these voices matter, and they must be valued so they can best direct their own healthcare. The What Women Want campaign will help advance programs and policies that matter to women and girls.”
Top 3 Asks in Uganda 1) Labour and delivery information, personnel, services and supplies, e.g. mama kits
2) Medicines and supplies (relating to availability of quality drugs, blood and blood testing kits)
3) Menstrual health (including the provision of sanitary pads in schools, information, availability of water, soap, medicines/painkillers, latrines etc) (Check top 10 asks/demands in WWW Uganda campaign report) Through the What Women Want campaign, the voices of the women and girls of Uganda are now being heard. They have given their priorities for quality reproductive and maternal healthcare – it is now time to listen and act on these demands.