The town of Missala sits an hour south of Mali’s rambling capital, Bamako, West Africa. A large portion of the couple of hundred townspeople here stay dependent on agribusiness, and in spite of their closeness to the city, helpless streets, and absence of public vehicles have left them separated.

It’s a genuine occasion when the portable facility of the Association Malienne pour la Protection et la Promotion de la Famille (AMPPF) folds into town once per month, and maternity specialist Mariame Doumbia makes her ways for a quickly developing crowd of women.

“The mobile clinic is important for accessibility, so that the women living in poorly serviced areas can access sexual and reproductive health services, and reliable information,” Doumbia said, as the first client climbed the metal stairs into her consulting room. 

Serving vulnerable women and girls

The three portable facilities worked in remote areas by AMPPF in Mali serve probably the most weak women and girls in the nation. They are kept up with Canadian Government reserves by means of the SheDecides project, which ventured into the yawning hole left by the restoration of the Global G*g Rule (GGR) in 2017. That year, AMPPF stressed it would lose the entirety of its portable centers, and a help for these women.

The portable facility gives free contraception and smear tests/pap smears, and ladies additionally request counsel on all parts of their wellbeing and prosperity.

“I come here all the time to ask when the clinic is coming back”

Others consult the midwife about their problems with infertility. “I come here all the time to ask when the mobile clinic is coming back. I used to come for the contraceptive injection to protect myself,” said Aminata Traoré, who married at 15 and has one child aged eight. “I want another child now but I can’t get pregnant and I have irregular periods. The midwife prescribed me some fertility drugs,” she said. 

Adama Samaké, chief of the Missala Health Centre, oversees the proceedings as a village elder with deep trust from his community. When the mobile clinic isn’t around, his centre offers maternity services and treats the many cases of malaria that are diagnosed in the community.

Samaké’s wife is a client of the clinic, and they have decided to stop having more children. He believes the community has built a relationship of trust with Mariame Doumbia and her AMPPF colleagues. “The midwives know their job and they do it well. Fewer people go to see the local witch doctor now. They know the modern methods of contraception are more reliable,” he said. 

Source of the article: https://www.ippf.org/blogs/mobile-clinic-serving-malis-most-vulnerable-women-and-girls