OB/GYN

Happyness: Advocating for Women’s Health in Rural Uganda

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By Anne Dougherty, M.D., assistant professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, and founder and director of the UVM Global Women’s Health Education Program
Let me tell you a story about Happyness. Happyness is a young woman living in rural Nakaseke district about sixty miles outside Kampala, Uganda’s capital. She just had her second baby who was born premature, and will likely not survive to his fifth birthday. This pregnancy was conceived eight months after her last delivery, though we know that rapid repeat pregnancy, those conceived less than twenty-four months following a delivery, have dire consequences for both mother and baby.

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Witness, Advocate, Exchange, Improve

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Written by Ann Dougherty, M.D.’09
On a whiteboard in my office, I have written the words: witness, advocate, exchange and improve. These are my pillars of global health. Witness, don’t rescue. Advocate, for a diversity of backgrounds. Exchange, sustainably and equitably. Improve, building appropriate technology and capacity. These core concepts may seem obvious, but they require training in global health ethics and the realities of on-the-ground work in low-resource settings.

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What Women Want During Labor: Cultural Competency in Uganda

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Written by Janel Martir ’17
“What’s an epidural?” Phiona asked casually as she swayed toward the cabinet of binders in the International office at Makerere University holding her pregnant belly, her brow furrowed in obvious curiosity. Sruthi, one of the two medical students on the maternity wards with me, and I looked at each other, speechless. We fumbled, unsure of where to begin. Epidural is a word with deep cultural and visceral resonance among women in the United States. Even nulliparous women (medical jargon for women who have never experienced labor) joke behind closed doors—”I’m so getting an epidural”—before bursting into fits of laughter when the topic of possible or future childbirth slips into the conversation.

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