Woman-Centered Care
Woman-Centered Care
Improving Provision & Experience of Care
Pointing to evidence-informed approaches, we have influenced global standards as well as regional and national policy to improve the provision and experience of care for women in the East, Central and Southern Africa region.
Global: We helped inform a WHO Statement on the Prevention and Elimination of Disrespect and Abuse.
Regional: In 2018, a ministerial resolution recognized Respectful Maternal Care (RMC) as a priority in the East, Central and Southern Africa region.
National: Tanzania adopted the National Guideline for Gender and Respectful Care Mainstreaming and Integration Across RMNCAH services in Tanzania.
History of Woman-Centered Care
Since the Bowser and Hill Landscape Analysis was commissioned in 2010, much has been done to address disrespect and abuse in birthing facilities and to develop, test, and implement interventions and approaches to promote respectful maternal care (RMC) (see the Timeline of Key Events for major milestones). Our global partners and those in Malawi, Madagascar, Kenya, and Tanzania have reflected the power of local leadership, meaningful stakeholder engagement, implementation evidence, and dissemination to inform and improve woman-centered care in their countries. We have engaged researchers, implementers, and policy experts from Africa and the U.S. to generate more evidence on promising approaches, analysis and consultation around RMC terms and framing, improved packaging of evidence and knowledge products, and informed indicator development for routine monitoring and evaluation of RMC.