October 14 and 16, 2024 was the official launch of the women’s health service user committees (CFU) activities. The ceremony took place successively at Panzi Foundation in Bukavu for the Ibanda Health Zone, and in Kaziba/ territoire de Walungu for the Kaziba Health Zone, in the presence of various personalities, political-administrative, customary, and religious authorities, including representatives of the Médecins Chefs des Zones (MCZ) of these two Health Zones, the Medical Director of the Kaziba General Referral Hospital, certain members of the management teams of these two health zones, the representative of the Kaziba traditional chief, the Panzi district chief, the pastors of the various religious concessions, the gender focal points and representatives of civil society.
The mission of the CFUs (women health service users) is to carry out awareness-raising and other activities to help increase the use of health services, particularly sexual and reproductive health services, by women in rural and semi-urban areas. This will reinforce the social mobilization actions of CODEV (Comité de Développement) in its implementation of health activities.
This is because rural and semi-urban health zones are particularly vulnerable, with low indicators for sexual and reproductive health services. The President of the Comité des Femmes Utilisatrice des Services de Santé (CFU) in the Ibanda zone, Madame Noëlla Munyiragi, and her fellow members, sought to raise awareness among women of the importance of attending health centers for prenatal consultations, childbirth, post-natal consultations, pre-school consultations, family planning, hygiene in health structures and the community, holistic management of gender-based violence, etc. “Often through ignorance, many women do not have access to health services,” she says.
“Often out of ignorance, many women lose their lives giving birth at home because of lack of information, fear of hospital bills. But with us as CFU members, we’re going to make an effort to sensitize them and show them the importance of going to hospitals,” she says.
For the President of the Kaziba CFU, Madame Asifiwe Basimike Aline: “We’re making women aware of the need to attend pre-natal consultations, from the 4th week of pregnancy, and to follow the appointment sessions right up to delivery, in order to benefit from the various services and inputs necessary for their state of pregnancy. A woman must not fall ill in her neighborhood or community. We need to raise her awareness so that she goes immediately to the health center to reduce the risk of serious illness and/or maternal death”. “We have 725 members, but the committee itself has 13 members.” She added.
She thanked Dr Denis Mukwege and Panzi Foundation for continuing this vision for the Kaziba chiefdom.
Finally, the president of Kaziba’s civil society, Mr Joyeux Badesire, added: “We are here to support all CFU actions, so that women can quickly access care in our health zone. But we are also going to create radio spaces to broadcast awareness-raising messages so that the information is relayed to a greater number of people in the community”.
A memorandum of understanding was signed between the two CFUs of the Ibanda and Kaziba health zones, with the Panzi Foundation, the Panzi general referral hospital, and the Central Office of the Ibanda and Kaziba health zones.
The various beneficiaries of this project thanked Dr Denis Mukwege, who never ceases to remember them, by including them in various projects.
This official launch of CFU in the two health zones of Ibanda and Kaziba took place within the framework of Panzi Foundation’s Tumaini project.
The Tumaini project is implemented by the International Health Unit and the Hygeia Observatory of the Université de Montréal, with the support of Panzi Foundation. It is supported by Avocats Sans Frontières Canada and Global Strategies.
The Tumaini Project is financially supported by Canada through Global Affairs Canada.