Rwanda - Family Planning Program
The project has carried out an articulated social-health intervention aimed at improving the services offered by the Murambi Health Center, Rwamagana District (Rwanda), in the field of family planning, and thus improving maternal and child health.
Project Map
The context
Doctors for Peace, thanks to the funding of the Waldensian Board, with the collaboration of the Milanese association of Italian Volunteer Doctors, the Rwandan association ODEC and the Rwamagana Hospital, has carried out an articulated social and health intervention aimed at improving the services offered by the Murambi Health Center, Rwamagana District (Rwanda), in the field of family planning.
The Human Development Index sees Rwanda in 167th place out of 187 countries. Infant and maternal mortality rates are remarkable: for every 100,000 live births, 62.5 children and 487 mothers die. The birth rate (children born per woman) is 5.4, with significant differences between urban and rural populations.
Activities
The Doctors for Peace project promoted the training and retraining of 61 health personnel in the Rwamagana District, through a highly specialized course on family planning techniques, contraceptive counseling and the prevention of infectious diseases. It has also integrated, where necessary, the supply of medical material (equipment, drugs and aids) necessary for the proper conduct of the courses.
At the end of the course, the trained staff, assisted by specialized medical personnel, provided 151 women, belonging to the Centre de Santè, with specific treatments and individual counseling. Finally, community information meetings were held with 46 representatives of the Agentes de Santè (personnel trained to detect the health needs of individual communities) on the issues of responsible motherhood, the correct management of pregnancy and postpartum, sexually transmitted diseases and sexual hygiene rules.
The project has promoted the adoption, by the Rwamagana Hospital, of the WHO Family Planning Protocol, which provides for the use of the latest generation of contraceptive methods and a correct awareness of patients to their use, to encourage a woman’s informed choice regarding her sexuality.
