| Taiwan Is Hurdle to U.S.-China Thaw U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates met with Chinese counterpart Liang Guanglie with a focus on re-establishing military relations, but efforts were damped by political differences regarding Taiwan. online.wsj.com |
Death threats to health workers show long road ahead for family planners Fierce opposition to family planning campaigns in Katine, Uganda, is placing women's lives at risk and undermining key development work. But male prejudice runs deepConstant death threats are being received by village health workers (VHTs) trying to promote family planning in Katine sub-county, north-eastern Uganda. In a region where most men are firmly against their wives bearing fewer children, arguments against quantity of children in favour of quality of lifeare fiercely rejected and women have little legal redress locally or specialist medical support.One woman determined not to give in to male pressure is Sarah Akello, 24. She has just borne her fourth child, a girl, at Tiriri health centre, and hopes this could be her last. She says her decision is based on the risks involved in bearing children. She feels four children are enough, although most women of her age are seen as too young to give up having children.Not long before the birth Akello's husband, Sam Engulu, also 24, who accompanied her to the health centre, had opposed herdecision. He said he did not see why his wife should stop at four children. He argued it should be 10 and justified his position biblically - only God had the right to stop his wife giving birth.Such conflicting views over family planning cut right across the Katine community, where the issue of numbers versus quality of life acts as a serious brake on development. According to the National Population Policy (2008), all couples and individuals have the basic right to decide freely and responsibly the number and the spacing of their children, and to have access to information and education to make an informed choice - plus the means to do so. But that raises another problem for Akello.Local authorities slow to actThe African Medical Research Foundation (Amref), implementer of the Katine project funded by Guardian readers and Barclays Bank, has trained 272 village health team (VHT) members to help improve health standards. One of their roles is to educate residents on the consequences of big and unplanned families, but the opposition of Engulu and most of the adult male population means the battle could be long drawn out.Despite the negative impact this brings to development programmes, little is being done by local authorities to change opinion, and an attempt to bring village local council leaders into the campaign has so far had little impact. The reason for such apathy is that no byelaws have been passed by the sub-county authorities to compel men to accept family planning.The situation has now got so heated that VHTs told the Guardian earlier this month that several had received death threats each time they visited families to talk about family planning. Helen Alago, a VHT member for Abata village in Merok parish, said she and three colleagues had been warned to stop promoting family planning - they would be killed if women in their village stop producing."Men in our village promised to kill us," said Alago. "They said: 'We shall destroy you and burn your homes if women in [Abata] village stop producing.' So you fear visiting some families because none of us is really willing to die." Each village has a VHT team of four members who usually move around together during their family planning visits to families, but a threat like this leaves them vulnerable.Outrage due to lack of servicesThe sub-county's VHT coordinator, Simon Echolu, said the threats are definitely there and could severely affect any plans to promote manageable families. But he added that outrage in the community was partly due to the scarcity of family planning services in Katine."At one time, VHTs mobilised local residents for services such as vasectomy and tube ligation (tying up a woman's fallopian tubes), but the specialists Amref promised from Marries tops clinic to conduct operations did not come. Residents nowsee no reason [in it]; they think we are just wasting their time."There is some progress but it's slow. Echolu says in places such as Ojom parish couples are slowly getting the message although they have to travel to Soroti regional referral hospital for vasectomies, tube ligation and other services. Travelling 28km from Katine to Soroti town is not the best incentive in a community that gives family planning such a low priority. Meanwhile, Amref has raised acceptance rates on family planning from 1% to 4% since the start of the Katine projectNationally, Uganda has policies and guidelines guaranteeing access to reproductive health services and commodities and granting all Ugandans their sexual and reproductive health rights. However, disinterest among political leaders and policy-makers allows men to continue their opposition to women's free expression of their rights over reproduction - and seriously hamper the country's long-term development.HealthUgandaKatine amrefKatine lifeAid and developmentguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Spain's Premier Shuffles Cabinet Spain's Prime Minister Zapatero said he will eliminate two ministries and replace his deputy prime minister, in a bid to gain new political momentum and adhere to stricter EU austerity measures. online.wsj.com |
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