She is 24 weeks pregnant, has Type 2 diabetes and had a miscarriage last year. Obstetricians in the high-risk pregnancy clinic where she is a patient say that she will not have access in Guinea to the kind of medical care she is receiving here. Her lawyer said her life and pregnancy are endangered if she is returned to Guinea. If she survives to give birth, her infant's life could also be at risk.A pregnant diabetic woman from Guinea was released from detention Monday and is now fighting to remain in the country on humanitarian grounds. [...]
Camara went into hiding to avoid the deportation, because she said if she's deported, she could lose her baby or face death. She's now facing a 2 p.m. flight Tuesday afternoon. [...] Camara left her homeland in 2006 after the death of her first husband. She said the man, who was much older and had two other wives, physically abused and raped her. "My former husband's family believes I was the cause of his death because I left the country after he died. I could be jailed in Guinea if I return."
She came to Canada, but was denied refugee status. A year later, she married Abdoul Sow, a marriage immigration officials contend was a sham.
She was 16 years when she had her first baby. In six years, she was a mother of four. Tired, she sought the help of a herbalist in vain. She was pregnant again before her little one was barely three months.
Desperate, she went to Mityana Health Centre III, but they had only pills. She could not take them because her husband did not approve of contraceptives. She was advised to use depo-povera - a type of contraceptive and was injected.
However, she discontinued the contraceptive after three months because of prolonged bleeding and frequent headaches. Now a mother of seven and probably still counting, her only hope lies in a permanent method, tubaligation, which her local facility cannot provide.
This is the story of Eseza Nabbanja, 37, wife to Dan Kaweesa of Myanzi subcounty in Mityana district. "I have been struggling to get a family planning method since 1997, long before anyone in this village knew about modern contraceptives.
My husband was against it because he wanted to have more children," Nabbanja says. She thinks the situation has improved because NGOs are educating locals about the benefits of family planning.
But the long-term contraceptives are rarely available at Mityana health centre. "You have to trek to Mityana Hospital which is about 25km away," she says.
A medical superintendent of a non-profit-making hospital with a family planning programme that serves more than 700 couples each month wrote to The New Vision about the plight.
He said for the last one year, the National Medical Stores (NMS) supplied the hospital with injections, oral contraceptive pills and implants. They also invested in staff who deliver family planning free of charge in hard-to-reach parts of the country.
Suddenly, NMS stopped supplying drugs to non-government health units.
The hospital was referred to the Joint Medical Stores (JMS), who said they do not stock contraceptives for religious reasons, thus the shortage.
"We purchased emergency supplies from PACE, but will have to pass their cost onto our patients," the source said.
Poor women with the highest need for family planning, cannot afford it.
A source from NMS who preferred anonymity says the drug body has run out of contraceptives.
Family planning saves lives.
One of the most cost-effective public health interventions available today is family planning. Voluntary family planning is a critical lifesaving intervention that can significantly improve the health of women and their families.
