Taking Charge of Their Health
International Women's Day, commemorated on March 8, connects women around the world and inspires them to achieve their full potential by celebrating the collective power of women past, present, and future across developed and developing countries. Throughout the world, MSH has helped to improve the lives of women by working to improve their health and the health of their families; our PRISM Project in Guinea is just one example. Through PRISM, a new local governance strategy that actively includes women is taking shape with a focus on reinvigorating and restoring people’s trust in their health care system.
In the village of Banonko Cissela, Djaba Diawara has been chosen by her community to serve as treasurer of their health insurance program, or mutuelle. Already a volunteer community-based family planning representative (CBD agent) in her village, Djaba was extremely proud to be elected: “Everyone knows me in my village from being a CBD agent so they trusted me.” As treasurer, Djaba is a money manager, but also an advocate for the mutuelle.
Djaba is married with a family that includes her own and her husband’s; they are onion farmers and work every day in the fields. When asked how she balances her multiple responsibilities, she replied, “When I was chosen by the village to be the treasurer, it was a big honor. People don’t trust just anyone with their money. My husband and his family really support my work. I know this because when I was in working in the field, he told me to go back to the village and work there because the health post needed an extra set of hands.” At 55 years old, Djaba is learning new skills and is earning recognition in her community. “I am doing more than I ever have before. My heart has opened with new joy.”
Revitalizing Guinea’s underutilized mutuelles is an important component of PRISM’s work to empower and engage citizens to improve their health care system. Mutuelles have been present in Guinea and managed by the local health facilities for a number of years. To revive the program, each community decided to move the financial management of the program to the village level. In this way, community members can readily track the money they are investing and choose people they know and trust—like Djaba—to manage it.
Djaba represents a changing landscape in rural Guinea where communities are being engaged and empowered to develop long-term solutions that are created specifically for them. Women and men like Djaba are advocating for change and trust in their health care system. The work being done now is the foundation for the future: a future where both women and men are empowered to improve their situation and live healthier lives.