Sexual health and family planning: IPAS equips displaced women in Bulengo with dignity kits and adequate care
The NGO IPAS has successfully completed its sexual health and family planning campaign for displaced women in Bulengo, located in the Lac Vert district, Buhimba health area, west of the city of Goma. The initiative aims to ensure quality health care and contraceptives to vulnerable women, including those who are victims of sexual violence. As part of the campaign, displaced women received dignity kits, consisting of buckets, reusable hygienic bands, laundry and toilet soaps, loincloths and underwear.
The communication campaign focused on the availability of sexual health services, on the prevention of gender-based violence, on sexually transmitted infections and on the indications for obtaining a safe abortion in the DRC. Community health workers successfully communicated with displaced women in a situation of advanced vulnerability. The campaign also created a space for dialogue between couples to discuss options for family planning and unwanted pregnancy.
In the mobile clinic specially installed in the IDP camp, the NGO IPAS offered reproductive health care to 2,377 people, with 1,786 cases of patients with urogenital infections, 213 cases of safe abortions and 360 patients treated. in a holistic framework. The campaign was a great success for IPAS, which was able to contribute to more empowerment and better living conditions for displaced women.
In 2018, the DRC published the Maputo Protocol in its Official Gazette, making the treaty prevail over national laws. Thanks to this initiative, the NGO IPAS and other local partners hope that women now have access to safe abortions in accordance with the prescriptions of the Maputo protocol.
Overall, the IPAS initiative has not only increased information and awareness among populations, but has also enabled the allocation of resources for family planning for displaced women.