Community narratives – family planning: Muanacha is 35 and pregnant for the 11th time

Her name is Muanacha Mecussete, and she lives in the Saua-Saua neighborhood of the Nametoria administrative post in Angoche district, some 30 km along a dirt track from the district center, which sometimes looks like a dirt road and sometimes more like a path. “I am usually pregnant again by the time my child can crawl,” says Muanacha, who feels bad about having to leave the toddlers behind when she goes to the field to work with her husband.

After she was interviewed by community radio reporters from RC Parapato and told her story to them, she and her husband agreed that she should stop conceiving. With the help of the reporters, the couple set up an appointment for Muanacha’s sterilization but was unable to complete the process because they did not have enough money to travel to the medical center. Muanacha was nevertheless able to get family planning at the administrative post. “But my fertility betrayed me,” says Muanacha about the family planning, as she became pregnant for the 11th time anyway. “I can’t stand it, I just don’t have the strength anymore,” she explains.

The community radio reporters and h2n staff later followed up with the district hospital in Angoche, which will be able to provide sterilization after Muanacha gives birth. “I tell the young women in my village that they don’t need to give birth to ten children,” says Muanacha.

h2n, which is primarily supported by Norway, works extensively with community radios, produces community videos, broadcasts the “Saude e Vida” television program on health and wellness, facilitates youth engagement hubs and pursues a rapidly expanding gender equality agenda.