Author: Mildred Mushunje

Making abortion safe: Reflections from SRHR Champions from Zimbabwe:

Mildred Mushunje

By Mildred Mushunje (PhD) Introduction Access to safe abortion remains a contenscious issue for activists keen to see the liberalisation of abortion in Zimbabwe. Currently, the 1977 Termination of Pregnancy Act allows for an abortion under the restricted circumstances of rape, incest and health (ToP, 1977). There are various advocacy efforts underway in the country to expand the circumstances. One such effort is that supported by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (RCOG), which is a professional membership organization in the United Kingdom that sets standards and provides guidance…

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Power of Movement building in protecting women and girls against unsafe abortion: Op Ed

Mildred Mushunje

Mildred Mushunje, PhD The struggle for the recognition of women’s rights is one that has been fraught with backlash, including those arising out of patriarchal privileges and misogynistic ideals. Various movements including Feminist movements have risen to challenge these ideals. The movements have been multiverse and varied but they generally have the goal of addressing women’s gender subordination, the roots of women’s oppression, how gender inequality is perpetuated, and offer differing remedies for gender inequality. Such movements have also found expression in instruments such as The Convention on the Elimination…

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Protecting adolescents from unplanned pregnancies through access to comprehensive SRHR services

Mildred Mushunje

By Dr Mildred T. Mushunje Adolescents’ sexual and reproductive health matters, and their lives matter!! Adolescents and young people constitute the bulge of population in the Sub-Saharan region, Zimbabwe in particular. An adolescent is any persons aged between 10 and 19 years. Very young adolescents are defined as those aged between 10 and 14 years and older adolescents as those aged between 15 and 19 years[1].  Investing in their good health and well-being increases their chances for better and more productive adult lives (SRHR Africa Trust, SAT, 2021[2]) yet they…

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Adolescents: the face of unsafe abortion: Time to act

Mildred Mushunje

By Mildred T. Mushunje (PhD) Background Abortion is a public health and human rights issue which remains highly stigmatized regardless of efforts to liberalise it. Zimbabwe is one of the countries with high cases of unintended pregnancies among adolescent girls, which contributes to unsafe abortions (ZDHS, 2015) and these account for about 5% to maternal deaths (Ministry of Health, 2015). Contrary to populist belief, abortion is permitted under the colonial Termination of Pregnancy Act of 1977 which allows for abortion under the specific circumstances of rape, incest and to save…

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