Gender, societal roles and women's rights have drastic impact on women's health, especially reproductive health. In Tanzania, women experience human rights abuses from the household level, where domestic violence is common and women are often prohibited by male partners from accessing reproductive health care, to the health facility level, where women are often treated unkindly and/or given poor reproductive health services. The Jijenge! Project in Mwanza, Tanzania is working to improve reproductive health services by introducing a holistic approach which integrates women's health and psychological needs into reproductive health services. To do this, Jijenge! works in both health facilities and communities, advocating for womens' sexual and reproductive health rights. Seven public health facilities in the Districts surrounding Mwanza are included in the project, as well as four communities. Although much work has addressed the impact of quality of care on health service outcomes, less work has been done on the impact of gender-oriented quality improvements. This poster presentation presents the background and approaches of a 'woman-friendly" service intervention which focuses on the woman's right to high quality reproductive health services. The presentation will utilize data from the baseline study of the Jijenge project (conducted 11/2000) to explain how and why the human rights approach to reproductive health services is used to improve quality of care. Approaches such as the integration of gender-oriented services into District planning will be addressed. Conclusions, implications and discussion will focus on the benefits of integrating woman-friendly services into the public health system in the African context.
Learning Objectives: n/a (poster presentation)
Keywords: Reproductive Health, Human Rights
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: AMREF Tanzania
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.