PREFACE

As an obstetrician/gynaecologist who has worked in public health in Africa for many years, I have had the opportunity and the privilege to see women's health issues from a variety of perspectives. As a physician, I have delivered babies and cared for hundreds of women. As a programme manager, I have tried to ensure that essential services are available to meet women's needs. In the process, I have seen the powerful effect that information can have in changing women's lives by helping them gain the knowledge and the confidence to take care of themselves.

My main motivation in writing this book, therefore, was to present the basic information that women need to go through life in a healthy state of mind and body. Many women's health problems, including the complications of childbearing, could be prevented, or made less serious, if two things could be achieved: first, if women understood better how to take care of themselves before, during, and after pregnancy; and second, if they could recognise the early signs of complications and get treatment. Women's health and happiness is an important and valuable goal in itself. Experience from around the world has shown that it is also a basic requirement for a healthy baby, and indeed for a healthy family.

Many women cannot read, and their access to radio, television, and printed materials is often limited. Whatever information they receive about health issues usually comes from trained health workers, especially nurses and midwives. This book is meant to serve as a resource to help these health workers provide complete and accurate information on women's health needs and problems. By using simple language and including many illustrations and boxes that summarise key points, my hope is that this book will be used for face-to-face counselling, for small group discussions, and to prepare posters, pamphlets, and other educational materials on women's health. It can also be used by others in the community who share information with women; these may include representatives of women's groups, traditional healers or birth attendants, and local leaders, as well as neighbours, family, friends - and women themselves.

This publication is a revised edition of Your Health, Your Pregnancy: A Guide for the African Woman, which was published in 1992. This new edition reflects the recommendations and responses of readers and users throughout Africa who participated in an evaluation of the first edition. Four major changes have been made: first, the book is targeted more specifically for health personnel and others who work with women at the community level; second, it covers a broader range of reproductive health issues, including the needs of adolescents; third, it includes more references to traditional practices and beliefs; and fourth, it contains many more illustrations and boxes. The book still emphasizes pregnancy and childbirth, because the complications of childbearing remain the leading cause of death and illness among women in Africa today.

Healthy Women, Healthy Mothers is the first of a set of materials published by Family Care International. The other two publications are Getting the Message Out: Designing an Information Campaign on Women's Health, a booklet that outlines the step-by-step process of producing health education materials on women's health; and Strengthening Communication Skills for Women's Health: A Training Guide. (Information on how to request copies of these publications is provided in the order form at the end of this book.) Together or individually, these publications are designed to help organisations in Africa - ministries of health, family planning associations, women's groups, church organisations, and others working at the community level - in their efforts to promote better health for women and to reduce the number of deaths and disabilities caused by pregnancy and childbirth.

I hope that the information in this book will reach many of the women in Africa for whom pregnancy entails such hope and, sometimes, fear. It is written for the sake of their families, for the sake of their unborn children, and most of all for the sake of the women themselves.