Committees with Significant Impact on the Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights of Women and Adolescents

8 November 2024

Building bridges between community members and healthcare services: this was one of the guiding principles of the “Access to Health Services in Kinshasa” Project. Better known as ASSK, this project was implemented as a consortium by Santé Monde and the International Health Unit, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Among the various strategies adopted, the project team supported the establishment of two new types of committees aimed at increasing the representation of women and adolescents in healthcare governance.

These pilot experiences were the subject of a study that focused on identifying the levers and barriers to the implementation of such committees, as well as highlighting the outcomes associated with them.

The findings are very positive: Women’s User Committees (CFU) and Adolescent Committees (CADO) prove to be an effective means of improving the quality of primary healthcare services for marginalized or underrepresented groups whose needs are not being met.

In addition to strengthening knowledge about sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), these committees have allowed women and adolescents to carve out an important place at the heart of the priorities and decisions that affect their health.

Learn more about these committees in the article co-authored by Marie-Douce Primeau, Marie Jobin-Gélinas from the International Health Unit, as well as Cécile Maleko Mayabanza, Maguy Mayaza, and Geneviève Blouin from Santé Monde.

PUBLICATION: “Improving access and quality of primary healthcare through women and adolescents’ user committees: A mixed-methods case study in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo,” a case study published in the International Journal of Health Planning and Management.

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The ASSK project was completed in March 2024, after six fruitful years of collaboration with the Provincial Ministry of Public Health, Hygiene, and Prevention of Kinshasa (MSPHP). Implemented with support from Global Affairs Canada, this initiative was carried out by Santé Monde, in consortium with the International Health Unit (Unité de santé internationale du Centre hospitalier de l’université de Montréal – USI/CHUM).

Photo : C. Smeths / La boîte à images – DRC, 2023