Gone are the days when families preferred having many children for various reasons including having enough hands to till the land and seeing them as an asset when they grow. Mukeshimana Lucie aged 44 has been married for 22 years and has three children.
Working at Karongi Hospital has been a great opportunity to Mukeshimana as she spends most of her time with midwives and medical Doctors Mukeshimana where he witnesses the medical interventions given to fellow women. It was a day she decided with help of Midwife Mukangoga Christine who works at Karongi district hospital. She said that family planning brought a turning point in the couple’s relationship. “I feel stronger and can help my husband to work on our income generating activities. I have enough time for my husband and children, and love in our home has been restored,” she said.
Mukeshimana takes her time to sensitize fellow women and also talk to their husbands. Some women who use family planning reveal that they face problems such as over bleeding, back ache and constant headache but she advices them to visit the health center where she offers to accompany them whenever she has free time.“I do voluntary sensitization within my village and I have got six couples who have used permanent method of family planning.
One of the husband is happy and fins it a relief. Family planning also helps improve the family’s income and a solution to reducing gender based violence because the couple has time for each other and parents to have enough time for their children” says Mukeshimana Bayisenge Donath, her husband observed that since his wife started working, the family income has improved greatly. “We bought a piece of land where we grow crops, built a good house and bought some animals. Finding school fees for our children is not a problem anymore.”
Midwife Mukangoga Christine accompanies her client Mukeshimana Lucie in the theater for tubal ligation
Midwife Mukangoga Christine, appreciates the equipment and training provided by UNFPA. “The training has improved our capacity to provide quality long term family planning services to clients which we administer before the mother leaves hospital after giving birth. The mentorship program supported by UNFPA has been productive and I’ve helped my fellow midwives to provide other methods” Mukangoga appreciates.
However, challenges still remain such as high turnover of medical staff, over loaded with work where a midwife is in charge of maternity, FP services and ant-natal services at the same time.UNFPA supports key stakeholders to strengthen the health systems and organize series of training sessions for medical doctors and midwives with the view to developing their technical capacity in the provision of some contraceptives especially the long term contraceptives and permanent methods.
