MORE THAN JUST HOT AIR!
MITIGATING THE IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH.
Author: Fana Abay, Marketing and Communications Director, PSI Ethiopia
You think climate change is all about blazing temperatures and melting ice caps? Think again! It also has an impact on access to healthcare. Climate change affects essentials like clean air, safe water, and shelter, and impacts our overall well-being. As climate-related diseases and injuries increase, communities are becoming ‘climate refugees”, forced to relocate due to environmental changes. Developing countries such as Ethiopia face even greater challenges in dealing with extreme weather changes such as droughts and floods. As Ethiopia struggles with the effects of climate change, the demand for healthcare services is increasing despite the challenges facing the healthcare system.
Climate change poses ongoing challenges to health services such as family planning services, including increased demand, disruption of health services, displacement, and increased vulnerability of affected groups.
In response to these challenges, the Owning Their Future (OTF) project works at the grassroots level to provide comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) services to often underserved and hard-to-reach communities. One such region is the Southwest, where frequent torrential rains and landslides displace residents. Given this challenging situation, the OTF project focuses on the intersection of climate change, sexual and reproductive health care i and aims to improve access to these underserved communities.
A STORY OF RESILIENCE: THE JOURNEY OF MESELECH AND ADELO
Meet Meselech Fekadu and Adelo Habete, a married couple from Southwestern Ethiopia. They have built their lives growing spices and crops in Meha Kebele. But heavy rains and a landslide tore them from their home and left them with nothing. The loss of their livelihoods left them vulnerable and made it difficult to access sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and family planning services.
In Internally Displaced People (IDP) camps, where only basic necessities such as food and shelter are provided, access to health care and family planning is often neglected. The OTF project recognized this gap and expanded its services to internal climate migrants such as Meselech and Adelo.
Smart Start Navigators (OTF Project staff) educated the couple about family planning using the Smart Start counseling tool in the IDP camp. Meselech learned about contraceptives for the first time, and Adelo overcame his misconceptions about the side effects of contraceptives despite initial concerns. He believed that contraceptives required more food and protein, but this misconception was dispelled through counseling from the Smart Start Navigator. Adelo said, “I was worried about the high cost of milk and meat required for someone using contraceptives, but after counseling, I realized I was wrong.”
Their understanding continued when the Smart Start counseling approach linked financial planning with family planning, a new concept for the couple. Meselech shared, “I never understood the connection between family and financial planning. In our culture, large families are encouraged, and I never considered it a financial commitment to have many children without the means to raise them properly.”
Encouraged by the Smart Start Navigator and their newfound knowledge, the couple opened a small coffee shop offering meals, tea, and coffee and used the profits to buy land to rebuild their lost livelihood. Their views on family planning and economic stability have fundamentally changed. The OTF project supports young couples like Adelo and Meselech, who are affected by climate change.
The OTF project has reached 647,141 people with SRH services and continues its mission. Supporting initiatives like OTF can mitigate these challenges and promote reproductive health for all. By recognizing the intersections between climate change, health care and family planning, we can work towards a healthier, more resilient future for communities worldwide.
