‘’I would be making wrong choices had I followed the myths and misconceptions about family planning…”
#Closingthedistance #Accesstohealthcare #Joinus #donate
“My husband told me he never wanted to see me using family planning, he hated it. The people in my neighborhood also discouraged me from ever using it. They told me it doesn’t work, and that I could still conceive even when practicing it. All these words frightened me and I never used family planning,”
Ms. Mariam Asiimwe, a 30-year-old mother of 5 remembered how the community shaped her attitude towards family planning in the past.
With a number of myths, misconceptions, superstitions, and stigmatization attached to it, Ms. Mariam had no option but to turn a deaf ear to all the advice she got from those that supported family planning. Nonetheless, even though she wanted to practice family planning, there was no way she could access it in her community.
The mother of 5 hails from a small hard-to-reach marginalized community called Mikunyu village. It’s at least 13km away from its nearest health facility, Kabulega Health Center III. One has to incur a transport cost of 10,000 Uganda shillings(US$2) to reach the health center, yet Ms. Mariam lives on less than $1 a day. Squeezed between these constraints, she had given up on ever having access to family planning services. At least not until she got to know about Health Access Connect’s activities in the neighboring community, Kitunga.
Ms. Mariam Asiimwe speaking to HAC’s Family Planning Field Officer, Shakira Kalembe
“One day, while in the garden, I heard an announcement from the public speaker that every month, an organization called Health Access Connect brings family planning outreach clinics to Kitunga. I was so reluctant about visiting the outreach clinic. Then, I also heard a group of ladies talk about how family planning has helped them have control over their reproductive health and they love it. I was convinced to visit the outreach clinic.”
— Ms. Mariam retorted.
When she got back home that day, Mariam told her husband all about what the ladies said and then convinced him to visit the family planning outreach clinic with her. At the outreach clinic, Ms. Mariam and her husband presented all that they heard about family planning, and the health worker counseled them about all information concerning family planning and left the decision in their hands.
“The health workers educated us about many aspects concerning family planning before letting us have a final decision on the method that we would want to practice. They made sure that our decision was kept confidential between us and the health worker,”
In 2019, Health Access Connect, funded by Bergstrom Foundation, began activities in remote communities within Masaka and Kalangala districts. Since then, the organization has trained over 80 community health workers on how to offer family planning counseling, offer short-term methods of family planning, and refer clients for long-term and permanent methods of family planning. HAC has also conducted many family planning health education sessions in the community, with the intention to break the misconceptions and myths that were previously attached to practicing family planning. This has over time changed people’s perspectives, and they have continuously embraced the family planning outreach clinics in their community. So far, over 17000 patients have been reached with family planning.
Mothers listen to a family planning health education session before receiving family planning services at the outreach.
Today, Ms. Mariam and her husband’s attitude towards family planning means success to us.
“Since I started using family planning, I have never been disappointed. I even see that the rate of unwanted pregnancies in our community has reduced.”
She says
Ms. Mariam only has to walk one kilometer to access the family planning services that she is in need of. she was also happy to tell us how her husband is actually the one who always reminds her to visit the family planning outreach clinic when it is happening.
“I am so grateful for the services given out by Health Access Connect. These services are really so meaningful to us because many times a person may fail to access health services due to the distance, transport costs, and the time it may take to be attended to at the health center, because of the long line. Even the education we have got today is wonderful! We have added much knowledge. Indeed, there are many benefits we have got from the clinics.”
This is what Ms. Mariam had to say when asked what she would tell the donors that have chosen to fund the work HAC is doing in her community.
Just like Ms. Mariam’s story, we hope to see a change in the reproductive health of so many other mothers, men, and women of reproductive health. We want to fulfill their unmet need for family planning services.
Health Access Connect is already linking healthcare services to over 70 remote communities located in the districts of Kalangala, Masaka, Lwengo, Rakai, Lyantonde, Sembabule, Gomba, Mukono, Buikwe, Bugiri and Iganga . Within a span of 7 years, so far over 50,000 patient services have been provided within these communities. Although, there are still thousands of difficult-to-reach marginalized communities within Uganda and around the world that Health Access Connect hopes to link with Family Planning services, as well as other primary healthcare services. We need your help to fulfill this hope!
