Pretoria - The negative connotations surrounding the word abortion should not become a barrier to getting women across Gauteng the much-needed access to safe and legal termination of unwanted pregnancies.
It was with this in mind that the Gauteng Department of Health in the Tshwane district together with the national department launched a campaign against illegal termination of pregnancy.
Rebecca Makau, the programme manager for Maternal Neonatal and Women’s Health in the Tshwane region, said the health department was launching the campaign against illegal abortions as the stigma around the procedure continued to prevail in many communities.
Makau said creating awareness was crucial particularly in the city centre as there were posters advertising painless and safe termination of pregnancy all over, however often the facilities that were providing these services were not accredited by the department.
She said the department had been going through the nine provinces to create awareness, with them going as far as hosting an action march in Ekurhuleni targeting posters placed on street poles, electric boxes and on building walls.
Despite these efforts they said they found those very same posters would be placed back up again, which made it challenging to deal with illegal service providers.
"We want to create awareness and try to find means of continuing to send out the message that we do have public health facilities that offer the service that people can go to instead."
Makau said although not all facilities provided the service there was a list of facilities available on the department's social media platforms which gave information as to where people could go.
The programme manager said as they were aware of the challenge of stigma and staff attitudes in relation to the service itself the department had tried to address that by partnering with Ipas South Africa to conduct values clarification and attitude transformation workshops.
Through these workshops, she said they ensured that managers and all categories of staff were aware that the service was legal in the country and that every woman had the sexual reproductive right to have a termination of pregnancy.
"We didn't only focus on healthcare professionals we covered doctors and nurses as well as security guards, administration clerks, cleaners and other health professionals. The aim was to reach as many people as possible who were dealing directly or indirectly with the patient."
"Everyone needed to understand that this was not about them, that even if their belief system did not allow them to talk about termination of pregnancy when a client needs the service they need to direct them accordingly without judgment," she added.
Makau said they targeted youngsters at the Tshwane University of Technology as they were aware that they came from different backgrounds and hoped they would be able to spread the message when they returned to their communities.
Many of the youngsters male and female said they were thankful to be provided with this information as often they did not know where to turn to.
Pretoria News