Nepalese women share maternal health message

Lawson Hull
Public relations intern
Avondale College of Higher Education
Cooranbong, New South Wales, Australia

Three women’s rights advocates have presented a seminar at Avondale as part of an Australian speaking tour to raise awareness of maternal health in Nepal.

Rama Basnet, with daughter Dr Angela Basnet and friend Samita Pradhan, meet with lecturer Brad Watson and students to discuss women’s health in Nepal. Credit: Paris Lawrence.

Studies indicate about 600,000 women in the landlocked country suffer from uterine prolapse, says one of the advocates, Dr Angela Basnet. Young marriages and heavy workloads, particularly while pregnant, are the two main causes. The cost of the medical procedure to permanently treat it: $300.

“We need to inspire change, particularly in rural communities, by raising awareness of uterine prolapse and by helping women suffering from it receive a second life in ways that respect our culture and traditions,” says Angela, a consultant physician for the Community Service Academy Nepal.

Education, for women and men, is one of the keys to success. It will “reduce the problem, not eliminate it, and open up opportunities to help more and more women,” says Samita Pradhan, co-founder of the Centre for Agro-Ecology and Development. She speaks highly of women in Nepal, despite the way they are marginalised, describing their resilience as the factor that “will ultimately lead to change.”

Samita’s not-for-profit entity, along with the entity for which Angela works, are partners of Asian Aid, which presented the seminar. Joshua Moses is one of its communication coordinators. “If people in the West were more globally minded about people in the East,” he says, “health issues could be far closer to being cared for.”