Ipas > February is Reproductive Health Month in South Africa

February is Reproductive Health Month in South Africa

February 13, 2006

After liberalizing its abortion law in the late 1990s, South Africa takes another progressive step by designating February as Reproductive Health Month.

Photo courtesy of Giacomo Pirozzi, Panos Pictures.

South Africa has declared February to be Reproductive Health Month.

A campaign of the national and provincial departments of health as well as partners throughout the country, Reproductive Health Month will be an annual observance. The inaugural theme is “Save the Nation, Strengthen Reproductive Health.”

For South Africans, the theme is more than a motto. South Africa grapples with the AIDS pandemic; UNAIDS estimates that 21 percent of South African adults are living with HIV/AIDS. Cervical cancer is a leading cause of death among its women. And though abortion is legal and permitted under a wide array of circumstances, services are often not readily available in the country’s remote corners.

Ipas South Africa Director Mosotho Gabriel said that Reproductive Health Month evolved from her office’s collaboration with the national and provincial departments of health.

She said: “It started during a meeting with national and provincial reproductive-health coordinators. Ipas South Africa convenes these meetings to discuss challenges to abortion care. During our April 2005 meeting, we made a proposal to the Minister of Health to designate February as a Reproductive Health Month to be able to highlight all other sexual- and reproductive-health issues. South Africa already had Cervical Cancer Week and a Contraceptive Day during February each year, but very little was ever said about other components of reproductive-health care, including abortion.”

The Minister of Health, Dr. Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, accepted the proposal, and she launched Reproductive Health Month on Feb. 4 in a small village in the Eastern Cape province.

During the opening activities, Minister Tshabalala-Msimang said: “The purpose of this campaign is to inform and educate communities about all reproductive-health issues. The first activity will be the Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs)/Condom Week, which coincides with the week of Valentine’s Day. During the week, we will be highlighting the importance of preventing and treating STIs and the use of condoms under the theme, ‘Just the Two of Us Can Prevent STIs.’”

Gabriel said participating agencies want to raise awareness across the board.

“We advocate an integrated approach. We are not talking about abortion in isolation. The goal of the month is to talk about all the issues — not to piecemeal them.”

Ipas South Africa staffed a booth at the Feb. 4 kickoff, which attracted about 2,000 people from the surrounding rural communities. Visitors could also see displays that explored the reproductive needs of women during every stage of their lives. The stalls included an information station for young women; a stall about contraceptives; another booth focusing on termination of pregnancies; and a mobile screening facility for cervical cancer.

Before the kickoff, Ipas South Africa conducted a sexual- and reproductive-health information workshop for health managers in the Eastern Cape. The workshop focused on the National Strategic Plan for the Implementation of the Choice on Termination of Pregnancy (CTOP) Act and a new manual that helps provinces deal with conscientious objection to abortion services.

The Reproductive Health Month observances will vary according to province. The Northern Cape will focus on fetal alcohol syndrome. In the Western Cape, Ipas South Africa will lead programming related to pregnancy termination and conscientious objection. In Mpumalanga, health officials will conduct focus groups with youth and adults to determine their reproductive needs.

Among the other special observances in Reproductive Health Month are Condom Week, today through Feb. 17, and Contraceptive Day, Feb. 28.

For more information, contact:
Kirsten Sherk
Senior Associate, Media Relations
e-mail: sherkk@ipas.org
phone: 919.960.5612
fax: 919.929.0258