Experts Meeting to Address Obstetric Fistula in Rwanda

KIGALI, RWANDA—Leading experts and physicians working in the reproductive and maternal health field will convene in Kigali December 7–8, 2009, to identify challenges and solutions to a pressing and preventable health concern in Rwanda—obstetric fistula. Hosted by the Ministry of Health, in collaboration with the Rwanda Medical Association and the U.S. Agency for International Development-supported Fistula Care Project (managed by EngenderHealth), the meeting will engage policymakers, health officials, medical staff, and community leaders to set achievable goals for preventing fistula and improving Rwandan women’s health.

Fistula affects an estimated 2–4 million women globally, including in Rwanda. It is a devastating gynecological injury usually caused by prolonged labor without medical intervention or cesarean section. As a result, women with fistula have chronic leakage of urine and/or feces. In most cases, fistula can be repaired through surgery, and it is almost always preventable—with timely, high-quality obstetric care as well as family planning.

At the meeting, national and international experts will strategize on how to best to integrate family planning with maternal health services to prevent fistula and improve the health and lives of Rwandan women. Leading physicians will be available to offer their expertise and comment on the issues, including:

• Dr. Isaiah Ndong, Vice President for Programs, EngenderHealth
• Dr. Joseph Ruminjo, Clinical Director of Fistula Care, EngenderHealth
• Dr. Theobald Hategekimana, Director, University Central Hospital of Kigali
• Dr Serigne Magueye Gueye, Fistula Master Trainer, Cheikh Anta Diop University/Grand Yoff General Hospital, Senegal

The meeting will be held at the Serena Hotel in Kigali. Members of the media are invited to attend the opening ceremony on December 7 and the morning session on December 8. Please contact Kellen Kebikomi by telephone at 250-25257-0912 or by email at kkebikomi@engenderhealth.org to confirm your attendance.

About Fistula Care
The Fistula Care project is a five-year cooperative agreement funded by USAID and managed by EngenderHealth. The project works to address the enormous backlog of women awaiting life-altering fistula repair, ensuring they receive timely and quality care from trained providers. At the same time, we work to remove barriers to emergency obstetric care that lead to fistula in the first place, so that women in labor get to the right place with the right services at the right time. The project is supporting a network of facilities offering a continuum of services, from emergency obstetric care, referrals, and family planning, to complex fistula repairs and advanced surgical training. Visit www.fistulacare.org for more information or contact us at: fistulacare@engenderhealth.org.

About EngenderHealth
EngenderHealth is a leading international reproductive health organization working to improve the quality of health care in the world’s poorest communities. EngenderHealth empowers people to make informed choices about contraception, trains health providers to make motherhood safer, promotes gender equity, enhances the quality of HIV and AIDS services, and advocates for positive policy change. The nonprofit organization works in partnership with governments, institutions, communities, and health care professionals in more than 20 countries around the world. For more than 65 years, EngenderHealth has reached more than 100 million people to help them realize a better life. For more information, visit www.engenderhealth.org.

(From the EngenderHealth press release)

Live from MenEngage Rio: How the Privileges of Patriarchy Can Work Against Men

Posted by Eric Ramírez-Ferrero

On day four of the conference, the workshop that clearly stood out for me was, “Gender and Masculinity in Post-Conflict Settings.” In it, we examined experiences of men in war-torn societies, including post-genocide Rwanda, northern Uganda and eastern Congo, East Timor and Gaza.

One speaker used an interesting phrase, “gender against men,” to describe how strict notions of manhood are a liability to those men who fall outside of the limits it sets, men who don’t live up to the expectations inherent in “being a man.”

In post-conflict settings, such men might include those who have been the victims of sexual violence. The speaker from Uganda showed a moving video documenting the experience of one Congolese man (his identity was protected) who candidly described the horror of being held prisoner by the forces fighting in eastern Congo: Over a period of days, he was repeatedly gang-raped by soldiers. Though the physical trauma was beyond daunting, this man also knew that his perpetrators’ intention was to humiliate him, to diminish him, to demonstrate their power over him by putting him “in his place”—as a “woman.”

This sounded disturbingly familiar. We know that, ultimately, rape is about power, even when both the perpetrator and victim are men. As an anthropologist, I also found it fascinating how gender definitions are used to make sense of those who have power and those who don’t. It’s not merely academic - it plays out daily in the most devastating ways: In these and other post-conflict settings, men who aren’t willing to fight—to take up that traditionally “male” role –are feminized and subject to the same reign of terrors as women.

Unfortunately, the humiliation of male victims of sexual violence is further compounded when they seek counseling and care. The limited systems available (in this case United Nations missions) to support survivors of rape are closed to men. Indeed, support workers’ own definition of rape has excluded men as possible victims, and even those who did “get it” conceded that, “We have programs for women at-risk and for those who traumatized by sexual violence, but we have nothing for men.”

The same speaker explained that this is in part a result of what he called “patriarchal feminism” – a one-sided concept wherein only women are vulnerable. He went on to say that this is quite damaging for women, too, because it limits them to the role of victims rather than as agents of change. He seemed to be saying that many efforts to promote women’s equality actually reinforce traditional visions of womanhood and manhood (thus the “patriarchy”).

I agree with the speaker that, inadvertently, some “empowerment” efforts may reinforce rather than change norms. But the term “patriarchal feminism” sounds like plain old patriarchy to me, because there is no doubt that pervasive and age-old ideals of what women and men should be and do really DO oppress women! Yet this workshop made clear that we all need to be more conscientious of and concerned by how the meanings of “manhood” affect men, too. Clearly, they continue to benefit men in power, but they render other men even more vulnerable and sometimes invisible—and in the worst cases, beyond the safety net of services and support.