Abusive care turns women off hospitals

The White Ribbon Alliance, a non-government organisation dedicated to issues of maternal health, conducted public hearings which showed many women are sceptical about visiting health centres because of the attitude of health workers and the way they are treated.The public hearings have cited neglect, outright abuse, indifference, coercion and harassment, and they form the content […]

The White Ribbon Alliance, a non-government organisation dedicated to issues of maternal health, conducted public hearings which showed many women are sceptical about visiting health centres because of the attitude of health workers and the way they are treated.
The public hearings have cited neglect, outright abuse, indifference, coercion and harassment, and they form the content of Respectful Maternal Care, or RMC-a new policy targeting healthworker treatment of women.
“We have used cases from public hearings as evidence. A lot of people have seen this,” says Tonte Ibraye, coordinator for White Ribbon Alliance. “Receiving disrespectful and abuse care is making women not seek delivery at facilities.”
He adds: “If they are not receiving the adequate care they need and it is discouraging them from seeking facility-based deliveries, we have to come as civil society to say, ‘no, this is unacceptable.’”
Disrespectful care range from women detained after delivery because they are unable to pay hospital bills to women being smacked by midwives during labour.
Privacy and confidentiality for patients are also included among seven broad areas covered by the RMC.
White Ribbon last week convened a meeting for representatives in the health sector, professional associations to “reach out to health workers to ensure they deliver respectful maternal care and services to all women.”
It also said agencies regulating activities of health workers should use their powers to ensure “cases of abuse are reduced, or when identified, take adequate action to ensure it doesn’t happen.”
However, it plans extensive fact finding in health facilities “to get most of these cases so we can properly document them,” according to Ibraye.