Anna: I choose choice by giving women life-changing contraception

MSI is made up of almost 9,000 dedicated professionals fighting for and delivering reproductive choice around the world. As part of our 2023 Annual Review, we featured stories from our healthcare providers, clients, and partners on why and how they choose choice.

“They call me ‘Mama G’. G as in General. That’s because I’ve worked in family planning for 24 years, so they see me as a leader. I’ve worked all over Sierra Leone providing contraception. I’ve been by boat to Bonthe Island and visited rural communities by foot. A lot of women and girls know me, they point to me and say, ‘Oh, it’s Mama G! This woman helped me. She changed my life!’ That makes me so proud.

There are many MSI clients who stick in my mind. For instance, there’s a woman, a mother of two, who lives in the northern part of Sierra Leone. After our community talk, she told me her husband wanted eight children, but she didn’t want any more. I counselled her on contraceptive choices, and the next day she asked for an IUD. Over the years, I saw that she didn’t have more children, and she eventually enrolled her children in education, which was very rare in those communities. She saved her money and started helping other women, giving out loans and talking to them about contraception. Community people believe community people, so this helped break down misconceptions. This whole community changed. Children started being sent to school. The men saw this change and now they’re calling MSI to keep coming back! They say, “Had it not been for you, our eyes would still be closed.”

I am proud to provide contraception. Giving a woman choice is so important; it makes her happy, makes her live longer, empowers her. MSI is doing a lot to expand contraceptive choice.

We’re serving women and girls directly to bridge healthcare gaps, travelling to communities where 6 out of 10 people don’t know of any other option to access contraception. We’re partnering, advocating, and educating in schools. We have community-based health mobilisers and roaming nurses. We’re selling quality products at pharmacies. Our presence is felt everywhere.

My role now focuses on training public health providers. We coach and support them, help strengthen supply chains and ensure quality. The more the merrier, I say! When they feel confident in providing contraceptive choice, they’ll continue to serve these communities when we’re not there. In this way I feel we’re making a long-lasting impact.

Sierra Leone was once known as the deadliest place in the world to get pregnant. But MSI has helped maternal deaths plummet by giving women contraception and better reproductive health services. Our smart evidence team worked out that an estimated 40% more women in Sierra Leone would be dying in childbirth and pregnancy without us. That’s showing what I’ve known to be true all along: contraception is life-saving. Unfortunately, the data isn’t always enough to secure money. Here in Sierra Leone, funding shortfalls are causing our services to close. There’s a lot for women and girls to lose, including their lives. We’re doing everything in our power to ensure services stay open.

My passion for this work is all about changing and saving people’s lives. And MSI matches my passion. I left for a few years, but I came back, because MSI is building capacity in people, thinking about the long-term, bringing choices to our clients and opportunities to our staff. MSI works for women and girls, and that’s what my life is dedicated to.

I may be 60, I may be a grandmother, but I am not tired. So I don’t think I should go and sit. I have more to give so I choose to continue, I choose MSI, and I choose choice.”

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