May 2019 News Review and Spring Update

For full graphic newsletter version, click here.

Addis Ababa Conference Highlights

Our thanks to all who attended, and followed on social media, the April conference in Addis Ababa, “Family Planning and Comprehensive Abortion Care: Strengthening Preservice Training”. UM-CIRHT was thrilled to welcome some 250 participants who heard the keynote speech from H.E. Dr. Lia Tadesse, State Minister of Health, Ministry of Health, Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, and plenary sessions with Dr. Timothy R.B. Johnson, Dr. Willie Parker, Dr. Lisa Harris, Dr. Eddie Mhlanga,Dr. Jody Lori and Dr. Iqbal Shah, in addition to 15 oral research presentations, dozens of research posters and workshop sessions each day.

The conference, the inaugural scientific conference organized by UM-CIRHT, served as a platform for education and research in family planning and comprehensive abortion care. The two-day conference drew submissions and participants from 33 countries — a diverse group of professionals including Ob-Gyns, nurse/midwives, faculty and trainees, and policy makers.

The full program, and links to the oral and poster abstracts, can be found here.

While abortion access improves in African countries, challenges remain

The government of Rwanda changed its laws around abortion access after years of debate, eliminating the need for review by judicial authorities and granting more autonomy to medical practitioners in the decision about whether a woman or girl can have an abortion up to 22 weeks. Some 24-thousand women and girls need emergency medical treatment from unsafe abortion each year. The legal conditions remain only in cases of incest, rape, forced marriage, or the health of the mother, or if the girl is very young. President Paul Kagame released 367 women and girls who had been imprisoned for abortion-related offences.

In Botswana, where abortions contribute to maternal mortality, amounting to 15% of the maternal mortality ratio of 182.6 per 100,000 births, the government is looking at moving beyond the standard legal exceptions. While DRC the conditions of the Maputo Protocol have become law, many in the country are unaware, requiring a publicity campaign by the Coalition de Grossesses Non Désirées. Discussions about meeting the requirements of the Maputo Protocol are also taking place in Senegal, Namibia, Malawi, and Madagascar.

Yet dangerous conditions continue for women and girls, as seen in Cote d’Ivoire, where unsafe abortion is a factor in 18% of maternal mortality, and deaths were reported in Eswatini, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, and even in Mauritius and South Africa, where abortion is legal but still heavily misunderstood and stigmatized.

The world will address safe access to abortion among other issues when the International Conference on Population and Development marks 25 years since Cairo with a global summit in Nairobi in November 2019.

Read more on ICPD and access around the world here.

New family planning clinic in Kigali serves women and girls… and pre-service education

A new family planning clinic at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Kigali/Universuity Hospital Center of Kigali (CHUK) will enhance service to the women and girls in the area and also preservice education for doctors, nurses and midwives at the University of Rwanda. In collaboration with the Center for International Reproductive Health Training at the University of Michigan (UM-CIRHT) and the RHR Project at Eagle Research Center, the clinic opened its doors May 16, 2019, with new equipoment and three refurbished rooms within CHUK.

Students on clinical rotation will work with the OB-GYN and nursing faculty to provide contraception and comprehensive abortion services to the clients, services which previously had not been supported at the facility.

Some 50 people, including Prof. Theobald Hategekimana, Director General of CHUK, Professor Stephen Rulisa, Dean of the School of Medicine and Pharmacy, and Janet Hall, Managing Director of UM-CIRHT, attended the opening ceremony. The clinic is an integral part of the reshaping of the pre-service family planning and abortion curriculum being taught across the University of Rwanda at it sites across the country.

For more photos, click here.

Congratulations to our founder, Dr. Senait Fisseha, on being named to the Global “Gender Equality Top 100”

The list, compiled by Apolitical, salutes “the most influential people in global policy for 2019.”

“With more nominations than ever before, this is our biggest and most global list yet: drawn from over 9,000 nominations, it recognises and celebrates the hard work being done on gender policy by so many around the world. Featuring politicians, civil servants, academics and activists, the list both recognises high-profile icons and shines a light on the unsung heroes whose work is indispensable to creating a fairer world for everyone.”

For the full list, click here.

Midwifery Champion

Our colleague from Bahir Dar University in Ethiopia, Selamawit Lake Fenta, was chosen by the International Confederation of Midwives as an #IDM2019 Champion for the International Day of the Midwife.

In the spirit of the chosen IDM theme, “Defenders of Women’s Rights”, she was picked as a person who is “pushing the gender envelop in their community.” Selamawit worked with the Ethiopian Midwives Association to push the Federal Ministry of Health to give risk allowance payments to midwives.

She was also featured in a report on National Public Radio is the US: What A Midwife Wishes People Knew About Her Job, NPR, 5 May 2019

Update on the US abortion access battle

The Trump administration has expanded its global gag rule and is applying it domestically, imposing major funding restrictions on family planning clinics that refer to abortion services. State laws restricting access to abortions — so-called “heartbeat bills” banning abortions after six or eight weeks — are being introduced across the country with the intent of reaching the Supreme Court which could overturn Roe v. Wade. Yet other states are expanding access and entrenching reproductive rights into their state constitutions.

The controversial “abortion reversal” laws are being put to a scientific test, to the dismay of anti-abortion advocates.

Meanwhile, corporations are getting involved in the debate, with business leaders calling for reproductive rights and a poll that showing that 60 % of employees would be more loyal to a company that covered abortion care.

For the full report, click here.

Danish Crown Princess at Michu clinic

During the visit of Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Mary of Denmark to Ethiopia in March, she visited the newly-opened St. Paul’s Hospital Michu clinic in the Haya Hulet neighborhood, which combines family planning and fertility/IVF facilities. She praised ongoing developments in the health sector of the country, especially family planning services and works on reducing mother and child mortality.

Crown Princess Mary is Patron of UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, “to support the agency’s work to promote maternal health and safer motherhood in more than 150 developing nations”. Denmark launched a first five-year (2018-2022) country strategy program with Ethiopia last year, setting aside 1 billion kroner (US$150 million) in aid to help promote democracy, fight poverty and create sustainable growth in Ethiopia.

News from 22 African countries!

Botswana

Abortions contribute to maternal mortality rates, Sunday Standard, 15 Apr 2019

Burkina Faso

Vers un jour historique pour les droits sexuels et reproductifs, Wakat Sera, 29 May 2019

Utilisation des méthodes contraceptives – l’Eglise, inquiète, Sidwaya, 14 May 2019

Cote d’Ivoire

Le Pr Mariatou Koné met le cap sur la sensibilisation du corps préfectoral, Fratmat, 23 May 2019

DRC

Faith and Family Planning At Odds for Catholic Families in DRC, Global Press Journal, 20 May 2019

Conférence Mondiale “Women Deliver” 2019: La RDC Affûte Ses Armes, Le Potentiel, 16 May 2019

Lancement du projet « Standing Strong Together » sur la santé sexuelle et reproductive, ACP, 10 May 2019