We participate in the global survey: What Women Want

by Claudia Ravaldi

CiaoLapo partner of the International Day for the Health and Rights of Mothers, on 11 April 2018.

Here is a very important birthday present for our association.

CiaoLapo joined the What Women Want campaign, which officially started today, with the dissemination of a survey aimed at all women and girls in the world.

The survey, available in several languages (also in Italian thanks to the contribution of OVOITALIA ), is very simple and is based on a single, large, question:

What is the most important thing for you for maternal and reproductive health that you want to ask the health services?

This worldwide campaign is an important occasion for all women and families , and is supported by many prestigious partners, as committed as we are for years to reduce maternal and perinatal death, to improve the health of women and children, and to promote good care practices (these three things go hand in hand, and cannot be addressed separately, because they influence each other).

This campaign, in particular, recognizes the central role of women and girls in the care pathways, of all women, of all pregnancies: without divisions between physiology, pathology, high medium and low risk, without geographical, economic, cultural distinctions. . Women and girls can tell and ask, for themselves and for other women, starting from their personal experience: after years of fighting against the most brutal and tenacious taboos, finally a public and global opportunity to break the silence on perinatal death, on high-risk pregnancies e on access to care through the words of women and girls who have also lived this experience and deserve listening, like all the others.

What Women Want is therefore an important opportunity to talk about rights, care and respect for maternal and reproductive health.

Simply by answering one big question.

The goal is to collect one million proposals around the world to improve health care in maternal and reproductive health.

As you know, we have talked about it several times commenting on the studies we have published on Lancet in 2011 and 2016, compared to two and a half million stillbirths each year, the space that global agendas reserve for stillbirth and prevention of preventable stillbirths is extremely limited.

Still, a few simple strategies could save millions of lives every year, and improve the health and well-being of millions of women, couples and children.

This is why we enthusiastically joined this campaign and we ask our mothers, grandmothers and friends to participate!

How can you participate in What Women Want – What women want

In the meantime, you can celebrate the double anniversary that falls on April 11th: CiaoLapo’s twelfth birthday and the International Day for the Health and Rights of Mothers!

It is no coincidence, it cannot be. So best wishes to all of us who have been working for the health of mothers and children for years.

Then you can join the worldwide campaign What Women Want – What women want and participate in the survey by offering us your important contribution.

You can also participate on social networks with these hashtags: #WhatWomenwant #CosaVrannoLeDonne

Finally, you can make your own sign by downloading the form here and posting it on the CiaoLapo facebook page (we will make an album, with all the questions)

The survey will remain open until the end of 2018.

Subsequently, in 2019, the proposals will be elaborated and the results will be disseminated at the global level and at the level of individual countries.

To know more:

The story of What Women Want starts from the experience of Hamara Swasthya, Hamari Awaz (Our health, our voices), a “bottom-up” campaign organized in 2017 by more than 100 organizations affiliated to White Ribbon Alliance India , mobilizing more than 150,000 women and aims to:

1) educate and empower people about the importance of quality, equity and dignity in women’s and girls’ health care;
2) support women and girls in requesting access to decent and high quality care;
3) putting the needs of women and girls, as expressed by themselves, at the center of health policies, programs and accountability of health systems.

What Women Want – What Women Want is part of the growth of the global movement for quality health services for women and girls.

The initiative also aims to help governments, health professionals, private care providers and civil society organizations to better understand what is most important to women and girls about their health.

The initiative aims to provide useful tools to generate change in the various countries and in the various territories.

The results will be summarized for inclusion in global and national agendas so that they can reflect the most important proposals, including recommendations for improving quality, equity and dignity in health.

The voices of women and girls must be heard. Together we can ensure quality in equal and dignified care for every woman and every girl, everywhere.

You can read more here: www.whatwomenwant.org

The voices of Italian women and girls affected by perinatal death in the last twelve years have received a hearing that previously would have been unthinkable. It wasn’t there, it couldn’t be done, it was taboo. After being listened to, the bereaved mothers began to listen to each other in ever more numerous groups, and then they began to be heard even outside the community of bereaved parents, in the squares, in the counseling centers, in the hospitals, in the regions and provinces. On October 15th, in the first instance, but also on many other occasions. This movement of bereaved parents, mothers and families has created a beautiful wave of cultural change: today it is possible to talk about perinatal death and find someone who is able to listen with respect and interest, where before silence and silence reigned ‘indifference. Even women and girls who have not directly lived this experience, thanks to the first women who gave and received listening, today can listen and speak, and become aware and be cared for, in case of need.

A twelve-year path of awareness and awareness.

Now that we know we can tell and be heard, it is time to ask our questions to care services and institutions.

For all women and girls.

For all our children.

#whatwomenwant #ciaolapo #breakthesilence

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