Reproductive health services for refugees by refugees: an example from Guinea |
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| Authors: | Anna Von Roenne Franz Von Roenne Sarah Kollie Yaya Swaray Egbert Sondorp Matthias Borchert |
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| Institution: | 1. Consultant for Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), specialising in communication for development, HIV/AIDS, and sexual and reproductive health and rights;2. at the time of the research for this paper she was a GTZ advisor to the Reproductive Health Group (RHG), Guéckédou, Guinea.;3. Principal GTZ advisor at the Ministry of Health in Indonesia;4. at the time of the research for this paper, he was the principal GTZ advisor for the Guineo–German regional health programme in Faranah, Kissidougou and Guéckédou in Guinea.;5. Coordinator of RHG, Guéckédou.;6. Youth Coordinator of RHG, Guéckédou and now works for GTZ as part of the Congolese–German HIV/AIDS programme in the Democratic Republic of Congo.;7. Senior Lecturer in Public Health and Humanitarian Aid at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, United Kingdom.;8. Consultant epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and at the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium. |
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| Abstract: | The need to involve refugees in their own reproductive health (RH) services has long been recognised, but there is a lack of published examples describing how this can be achieved collaboratively between refugee initiatives, UNHCR, bilateral development organisations and international relief agencies. This paper outlines the work, outputs and lessons learnt of the Reproductive Health Group (RHG), an organisation of Liberian and Sierra Leonean refugee midwives and laywomen providing RH services to fellow refugees in Guinea's Forest Region between 1996 and 2000. Working as part of the Guinean health system, RHG midwives and community facilitators helped make the RH services in their region the most effective in Guinea at the time. Looking at RHG's achievements, the challenges it faced and partly overcame, it is argued that refugee organisations can plan and implement RH services for refugees where UNHCR and its international partners ensure that they receive funding and technical assistance. |
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| Keywords: | capacity development NGOs post-conflict situation STIs refugees' reproductive health |
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