Working together with women for health

Ms Themba Dlomo

AIM OF THE WORK

To educate women on wider socio-economic issues.
To enable them to take charge of their own destiny and that of their families.

SCOPE OF THE WORK
Educational materials were developed by urban Universities, and rural Primary Health Care nurses were taught how to use these to engage women in an interactive way in primary health care (prevention, promotion and care). Ninety such nurses were trained, and over 500 women became active in 38 groups in one rural area.

The training material covered:

Empowerment
Gender sensitivity and human rights
Using the justice system, including dealing with abuse
Child development
Economic empowerment
Promotive and preventive health
Caring for people with common and minor illnesses at home.

Training took place one afternoon per week for ten months over two years.

The paper describes the project from the perspective of one of the Primary Health Care Nurses working in a small rural hospital.

MAJOR RESULTS
The groups became a major avenue for information to reach the women, for them to access services and resources, and for nurses to move closer to the communities they serve.

CONCLUSION
Indigenous rural women in South Africa have been ravaged by poverty, isolation, lack of education, oppression and heavy social burdens for generations. Changing such a situation to one of community participation in health, is a challenge which nurses in this project have taken up.

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