Empowering for Equality

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Empowering for Equality

• Swaran L Naidu
• Associate Professor in OG
• Fiji National University
• Viseisei Sai Health Centre

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MDG3- Gender Equality

• Females are as intelligent as males as shown by
  primary and secondary schools results
• So what is it that leaves women behind after this
  stage?

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Reproductive Role?

• Difference in reproductive role to men
• - disempowers them.
• -trapped into not having control
• -over their reproduction
• -socio- economically
• -and becomes dependent on the male partner.
• This leads to many of the abuses that women
  suffer.
• Motherhood instead of being a celebration becomes
  a yoke and a burden

4
Fiji

• High Unmet need for contraception
• 30 contraceptive use
• 10 teen Pregnancy
• High rates of unplanned pregnancy
• STI rates high lt25 years
• Cervical Cancer rates very high

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Disempowerment of women

• High poverty- 40 below poverty line
• High unemployment among women
• Unaware of their rights
• Lack of sense of their own worth value
• Society - believe that they are inferior
• High rates of Gender Based Violence

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Response

• -Recognition that Reproductive Health can not be
  delivered from hospitals and health centres only
• -Human Rights Project
• Strengthening rights of rural women by providing
  them with knowledge, access and control of their
  Reproductive health.
• Funded By European Union  

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Empowerment of Rural Women and Girls

• Our Project attempts to help remove the
  yoke/burden from the most under privileged rural
  women
• Helping them celebrate who they are and try and
  realise their full potential
• Hope- help towards gender equality

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Project

• Education
• Awareness raising
• Advocacy
• Targeted health care through outreach clinics
• Main Areas Covered
• Reproductive Health Rights/ Human
  Rights
• Family Planning/ contraceptive use
• Safe sex
• STIs
• Cervical Cancer Screening

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Target Groups-Lautoka, Ba and Nadi

• Schools Girls, University students
• Youth groups
• Faith Based Groups
• Womens groups
• Rural Women men in Villages and settlements
• Teachers of the Family Life Education Program

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2 year Project

• TEAM
• Gynaecologist
• 2 RH nurses
• 1 Health Promotion Officer
• 3 Health Educators
• Driver
• Data Entry

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Mid Feb to June 2013 Stats

• EDUCATIONAL SESSIONS
• 35 villages/ settlements (1200 women)
• 6 youth/ faith-based groups (200)
• 6 schools (202 students)

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Workshops

• 2 Teachers workshops Up skilling in RH education
• 2 Womens Advocates in RH Workshops -2
• 1 Youth Workshop
• 1 University Students Workshop

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THE RH OUTREACH CLINICS

• Total Number of Women Seen------------1066
• Pap Smears performed----------------------784
• Number of breast examinations-----------1066
• Referrals to Lautoka /VSHC-------------145
• Suspicious Breast Lumps---------------------15
• Number of Paps with Trichomonas-------44/ 425
  results
• High grade Pap Abnormality-----------------9/ 425
  results
• Cases of Cervical Cancer Seen---------------3
• (So far- received 425 results of the 784 Pap
  smears performed)

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Our Lives

• changing!

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