By Kuda Pembere recently in Madziwa
On Wednesday, November 27, Population Services Zimbabwe (PSZ) delivered crucial Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH) services to Shamva District in Mashonaland Central under a project titled Self-Care.
Scores of people gathered at the PSZ tent, where the organization provided free reusable pads to school-aged children and jadelle implants to adolescents and young women aged 10 to 24 years.
The Self-Care project, funded by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) under the Safeguarding Young People program, is supported by the Swiss Development Cooperation and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Now in its second phase, the initiative targets communities in Mashonaland Central’s Guruve, Shamva, Mazowe, Mbire, and Mount Darwin districts.
The Self-Care interventions are tools that support self-care. These include evidence-based, high-quality drugs, devices, diagnostics, and/or digital interventions that can be provided fully or partially outside formal health services and can be used without the direct supervision of healthcare personnel,” PSZ stated. “Self-Care interventions have been identified as an innovative approach towards improving the health and well-being of individuals.”
For 19-year-old Rumbidzai Kimu, the intervention came just in time. As a single mother of a two-year-old, she shared how managing another pregnancy is not feasible for her.
“I heard on radio, Madziva FM, that PSZ would be here today offering family planning services, so I came to get the jadelle implant,” she said. The implant will provide her with two years of protection from pregnancy, allowing her to focus on raising her daughter.
“It is important for finding time to concentrate on taking care of my child and avoiding unplanned pregnancies. I am a single mother for now, and you have to be careful. At this moment, I am unemployed and staying with my mother. I sell wares here and there,” Rumbidzai added.
The project aims to enhance SRH self-awareness and skills among adolescent girls and young women (AGYW), promoting self-help, self-education, self-regulation, self-efficacy, and self-determination. Additionally, it seeks to empower AGYW in SRH self-testing, including self-sampling, self-screening, self-diagnosis, self-collection, and self-monitoring.
Mavis Munava, another beneficiary, expressed her appreciation: “I am happy about this project, Self-Care, which gave us reusable pads and family planning products. This is good for me because I can have time to take care of my children and continue selling airtime at Madziva Business Centre. I encourage other young mothers to come in their numbers to get these services. They have the loop, birth control pills, and jadelle.”
Two 15-year-old girls also shared their thoughts, noting their preference for disposable pads over reusable ones but demonstrating knowledge of menstrual hygiene.
“Menstrual hygiene helps prevent infections if you use proper products while menstruating. During menstruation, one is prone to many infections that may spread to the womb. This is just general knowledge,” one of them said.
“Others use pampers, but mostly we use reusable and disposable pads. The disposable pads are usually sold for US$0.80 to US$1,” the other added.
A father traveling from Bulawayo to Madziwa en route to Nyamaropa was also among the recipients. He collected reusable pads for his two daughters, aged 17 and 14.
“I couldn’t miss this chance to get these pads for my daughters, and I am happy. I promise I will deliver the pads to them,” he said.
Residents in Madziwa also praised PSZ’s for its Self-Care initiative, introduced at a time when the community is grappling with increasing gender-based violence (GBV) cases and teenage pregnancies. The initiative forms part of PSZ’s interventions during the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence.
As part of the program, the organization provided sexual reproductive health (SRH) services, including short-term contraceptives such as male condoms and reusable sanitary pads for teenagers. The initiative is funded by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) under the Safeguarding Young People Program, with support from the Swiss Development Cooperation and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Pastor Taurai Mabota of the Church of Christ, who has been ministering in Madziwa since 2018, highlighted the significant impact of GBV in the area, which he linked to economic challenges, including drought.
“The drought led to increased GBV cases as men leave their homes. At times, wives also leave their homes due to hunger. As pastors, we pray for sufficient rains in the hopes that GBV will be reduced,” he said.
He emphasized that both men and women are suffering from GBV, experiencing emotional and physical abuse.
“Men and women are being abused in their homes. At times, the husband comes alone to church, leaving the wife at home. Further inquiries often reveal that GBV is the issue. Looking closely, it sometimes seems the wife is more devout, while the husband stays home disinterested in prayer.
“When someone is enduring GBV, they are not attentive to sermons. For example, during a recap of sermons, when you ask questions, the person is often absent-minded,” the pastor noted.
Admire Charuma, a 27-year-old resident, emphasized the importance of adolescents using condoms and other contraceptive methods to avoid unwanted pregnancies.
“I commend this project because many young girls end up resorting to backyard service providers to terminate pregnancies. As they say, prevention is better than cure, so it is important to avoid such situations.
“Unintended pregnancies are prevalent in this area. In some cases, families refuse to support these girls, forcing others to take dangerous concoctions or even consider suicide. When these adolescent girls start dating, they should use family planning methods. Some of these girls might even die by suicide.
“We hear such stories. These men lie to the girls, later denying responsibility for the pregnancy, saying they are married. This often drives the girls to suicide,” Charuma explained.
He also pointed out that GBV contributes to challenges in accessing contraception.
“There are cases where men refuse to let their wives use contraception. Domestic violence happens, and some pregnancies result in children who grow up being referred to as ‘mistakes,’” he added.
GBV remains an SRHR issue that requires urgent attention. One effective strategy is to promote SRH self-awareness among adolescent girls and young women (AGYW). This includes fostering self-help, self-education, self-regulation, self-efficacy, and self-determination to empower them to take control of their reproductive health.
