Second session of the Film Festival on Obstetric Humanization
Medicus Mundi, Saber Nascer and the Alliance for Health held the night of 28th July 2022, at the Mafalala Museum, another session of the Film Festival “Activa-te pelo Direito à Saúde” to discuss Obstetric Humanization.
Medicus Mundi, Saber Nascer and the Alliance for Health held the night of 28th July 2022, at the Mafalala Museum, another session of the Film Festival “Activa-te pelo Direito à Saúde” to discuss Obstetric Humanization.
This is the 2nd session of a total of 6 sessions that will be held, each of which is intended for a specific theme, with the main objective of contributing to the education and awareness of citizenship and the authorities on activism and the right to health in Mozambique.
The films designed at the event aimed to show ways in which obstetric violence can occur and, in the same way, imply the importance and need for greater humanization in the obstetric context.
The session, in addition to having the projection of two films, namely the Brazilian film "O Renascimento do Parto" and Episode 2 on the Obstetric Violence of the series ʽʽACTIVA-TEʼʼ, had a debate panel on Obstetric Humanization, which had the participation of the Social Activist and Executive Director of Saber Nascer, Camila Fanheiro, and the Sociologist and Postgraduate degree in Medical Anthropology and Public Health, Dr Benjamin Macuácua.
During his intervention, Camila Fanheiro said that “Mozambique does not yet have a specific law that deals with obstetric violence.” Also, according to this social activist, in cases of this type of human rights violation, one can resort to legal instruments already existing to try to create a framework for the specific type of violence that the woman or the girl suffered at the health facility. Camila also added that, by making the legal framework, “it is possible that offenders are penalized by negligence, psychological or even physical violence and that these complaints can be made at the Ombudsman Office, the Police, AMOG, Saber Nascer, the Midwives Association of Mozambique and the Attorney General's Office.”
As far as it is concerned, Dr Benjamin Macuácua appealed to young people present at the Film Festival to be active and to fight to try to change the situation, as “they still have time and strength”.
In the same way, Camila Fanheiro highlighted the need to be a theme discussed frequently to enable changes and asked for the commitment of young people present at the festival with the cause. “Today they are girls and tomorrow they will be women, it is important that they reach this phase knowing how to deal with these situations”, she said.
Obstetric violence is a public health problem that affects women when they seek health services during pregnancy and can lead to consequences that start from the birth of deformed children, diseases such as obstetric fistula, post-partum depression, and even death.
It should be noted that this film show is inserted in the "Activa-te" Campaign, which was launched last February by the Alliance for Health, to defend the right to health in Mozambique, in the areas of the right to health, Obstetric violence, Improvement of services to women victims of VBG, Rights and Duties of the patient, Sexual Diversities and Positive Masculinities, Nutrition and Community Health, focusing on obtaining positive effects for the strengthening of the National Health System.