Faustine Maige, 41, who lives in Inalo village in Tanzania, is one of the volunteer community health workers who took part in a 21-day training course through the Uzazi Uzima (Kiswahili for “Safe Deliveries”) project.
The training included discussions on gender-based violence. Faustine says that he has already been able to use what he learned in the training:
“We had come across a gender-based violence case of a young girl from Nhobola village who was forced into marriage at the age of 14; after she was married her husband started to beat her until he caused injury to her and she was taken to Luguru dispensary. The community health workers at Luguru dispensary – including myself – listened to her story and alerted the health care workers at the dispensary who ultimately reported it to the police gender desk at Luguru, which is responsible for investigating cases of gender-based violence and taking corrective actions against them. The police gender desk investigated the issue and arrested the husband.”
The Uzazi Uzima project in Simiyu Region, Tanzania is a partnership among Amref Health Africa, Marie Stopes and the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania, with Deloitte as a service partner. Uzazi Uzima (Kiswahili for “Safe Deliveries”) is focused on reducing maternal mortality and morbidity rates in six district councils in the region. With support from the Government of Canada through Global Affairs Canada and from James Percy Foundation, this four-year project aims to reach about 345,000 women and adolescent girls and 330,000 men and adolescent boys directly.
