Rights, Women and Health in Nigeria

Abstract

Page 172 Africa in the World: Shifting Boundaries and Knowledge Production Global Health on the Continent: Continuing Challenges (Chairs: Nolwazi Mkhwanazi, University of the Witwatersrand) Ademola Fayemi, University of Lagos & University of Johannesburg Rights, Women and Health in Nigeria Women’s health and rights in Nigeria have largely been investigated from the legal, sociological, historical and feminist perspectives; however, with little philosophical contributions. There is increasing concern that the demography of the existing literature on the health and rights of women in Nigeria tends to focus less on the experiences of widows, their sexual and reproductive rights, and the health implications of subsisting traditional practices of widowhood rites, forced levirate marriage, disinheritance and other stereotypical acts. The unabated existential and dreadful experiences of widowhood resulting from different dehumanising traditional rites and contemporary practices in Nigeria have heightened the need for a systematic philosophical interrogation of the practices. In this article, I provide a novel attempt that critically exposes the false assumptions and contradictions in the subsisting practices in different ethnic traditions in Nigeria, while also exploring, normatively, principles that would be serviceable to a socially protected sexual, reproductive and qualitative health rights of widows. I seek to answer the question: what normative paradigm can be formulated that would justify widow’s reproductive and sexual rights in Nigeria such that would neither be detrimental to their qualitatively healthy life nor result in attenuation of dignified cultural norms and practices? On the strength of Afrocommunitarian ethics, I argue the position that widows, whether youthful or elderly, have non-conflicting sexual rights to partners of their choice and reproductive rights to contraception, abortion, surrogacy and non-contracted pregnancy. Both rights ought to be freely expressed just in so far that such actions would necessitate social harmony and wellbeing of both self and the community. Aaron Hale, Fourah Bay College (F.B.C.) & University of Sierra Leone, Fredline M'CormackHale, Seton Hall University Old Wine in New Bottles? Healthcare in Post-Ebola Sierra Leone This paper assesses the health care sector in Sierra Leone since the 2014-2015 Ebola crisis, which exposed the weakness of the health system in Sierra Leone, and its limitations to combat the disease. While there have been numerous assessments critiquing the health care sector and examining the varied reasons for its weakness including lack of political will, insufficient resources, as well as the donor driven nature of health care in Sierra Leone, there is need to examine the ways in which the state as well as international partners have responded to these challenges, two years on. The purpose of this paper then, is to examine what has been accomplished, or not, since the outbreak was officially declared over. Our central finding demonstrates that despite the attention and resources devoted to the Ebola crisis and discussions around rebuilding health institutions, very little change has occurred across the sector. What appears to have emerged two years post-Ebola is the re-packaging of old wine in new bottles. Through primary data, namely semi-structured interviews with various stakeholders including Ministry of Health staff, development partners and health care workers, this paper paints a nuanced picture of the current state of health care in Sierra Leone, and situates our findings within the broader body of literature on international humanitarian interventions and health service delivery in developing countries.