Benin

Benin, one of Africa’s largest cotton producers, has a young population and a large disparity in the number of women who are literate compared to men: Only 39 percent of women can read and write, versus 73 percent of men. This disparity means women have lower status, little opportunity to earn a decent living, and impaired access to quality health care.  To help ensure appropriate reproductive and maternal health care despite these limitations, EngenderHealth collaborates with local organizations in Benin to strengthen health care and address broader issues, like education, socio-economic inequities, and poverty, as part of the USAID-funded Action for West Africa Region—Reproductive Health (AWARE-RH) Project. Since its launch in 2003, EngenderHealth has collaborated with partners in Benin to:

• Expand contraceptive choice
• Make motherhood safer
• Reducing health care costs

 
Expanding Contraceptive Options
A shortage of skilled providers, inadequate supplies, and lack of accurate information about methods have hindered men’s and women’s access to modern contraception in Benin. Through AWARE-RH and the ACQUIRE Project, EngenderHealth collaborates with Benin's Ministry of Health and other partners to:

• Develop a national plan to ensure the availability of family planning and reproductive health supplies;
• Promote the use of long-acting contraceptives such as Norplant implants and intrauterine devices (IUDs).

 
Making Motherhood Safer
In Benin, complications of pregnancy and childbirth are the leading cause of death and disability for childbearing women. One of the most common, yet treatable, causes of maternal death worldwide is pre-eclampsia. In Benin and other West African nations, EngenderHealth encourages national health organizations increase availability of magnesium sulfate, a low-cost, safe, and effective treatment, by training local clinicians to recognize when magnesium sulfate is needed.  Other efforts to improve conditions for pregnant women and new mothers include:

• Upgrading provider skills in basic and emergency obstetric care;
• Providing equipment to health care facilities;
• Encouraging community mobilization and participation in health care;
• Promoting the use of national health accounts, a tool designed to measure health expenditures, so administrators can better understand how health resources are used;
• Developing a new treatment protocol (sulfadoxine pyrimethamine) to prevent malaria in pregnant women;
• Organizing a regional training session to train health care workers in HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis treatment.

 
Reducing Health Care Costs
Men and women in the developing world face persistent barriers to quality health care services. A lack of resources, a shortage of doctors and nurses, and scarce supplies contribute to substandard health care. In the more remote areas of West Africa, the nearest health clinic can be a days’ walk away. And even when health facilities are accessible, many people cannot afford services. To help ease the cost of health care, EngenderHealth sponsors health insurance through community-based mutual health organizations (MHOs). Encompassing both preventive and curative care, MHOs allow communities to pool their savings to pay for services when one of their members becomes ill. EngenderHealth works with the Institut Regional de Sante Publique (IRSP) in Ouidah, Benin to raise awareness of community-based health financing.