{"id":6439,"date":"2026-09-08T00:02:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T00:02:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/?p=6439"},"modified":"2026-09-08T00:02:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T00:02:17","slug":"ad1229-few-malians-support-womens-autonomy-in-decisions-about-marriage-and-childbearing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/?p=6439","title":{"rendered":"AD1229: Few Malians support women\u2019s autonomy in decisions about marriage and childbearing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sexual and reproductive rights encompass the rights enabling every person to access sexual and reproductive health services, receive appropriate sexuality education, maintain bodily integrity, choose their sexual partners, exercise autonomy regarding marriage on the basis of equality between spouses, lead a safe and satisfying sexual life, and freely choose their sexuality, sexual orientation, and gender identity (Starrs et al., 2018).<\/p>\n

This integrated definition highlights the importance of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) for economic and social development, as well as their direct link to gender equality. In many countries, including Mali, access to sexual and reproductive health services and the right to make decisions about one\u2019s own body \u2013 free from stigma, discrimination, and any form of coercion \u2013 are not guaranteed in practice, even though the law ensures these rights equally for men and women (United Nations Population Fund, 2025).
\nIn 2023, the utilisation rate for modern contraceptive methods in Mali stood at only 22%, with marked regional disparities ((Institut National de la Statistique, 2024). That same year, 49% of women received no assistance during childbirth and 14% had no prenatal check-ups, with significant gaps between rural and urban areas.<\/p>\n

These shortcomings in access to reproductive health services are also reflected in <a href="https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/?p=6397" title="Church donates $1.2 million to UNICEF for maternal<\/a> and newborn health in Pakistan”>maternal<\/a> health indicators. In 2018, the maternal mortality rate was estimated at 325 deaths per 100,000 live births \u2013 a level far above the target set by the United Nations (UNICEF, 2024)<\/p>\n

Access to quality sexual and reproductive health services remains limited due to several factors, notably inadequate social and health infrastructure, low health-service coverage (76% within a 15 km radius), and the weight of sociocultural norms that can affect the health of vulnerable groups (Direction Nationale de la Sant\u00e9, 2017; Minist\u00e8re de la Sant\u00e9 et des Affaires Sociales, 2019)<\/p>\n

To improve access to and the quality of health services \u2013 including those related to sexual and reproductive health \u2013 Mali has adopted several policies and strategies (Minist\u00e8re de la Sant\u00e9 et des Affaires Sociales, 2019). The initial documents on Family Health Policy, Standards, and Procedures, developed in 1987, have been revised multiple times to progressively incorporate reproductive health and a gender-based approach. Their most recent update, carried out in 2019, established a framework for sexual and reproductive health interventions.<\/p>\n

Other measures have included the integration of sexual and reproductive health programmes into the training of senior health technicians (KIT Institute, n.d.)<\/p>\n

Against this backdrop, this dispatch analyses the views and experiences of Malians regarding SRHR, drawing on data from a special module included in Afrobarometer Round 10 surveys<\/p>\n

Perceptions regarding SRHR in Mali are mixed. Only a minority of citizens acknowledge the right of girls and women to make their own decisions about marriage and childbearing<\/p>\n

Conversely, majorities of Malians favour access to contraceptives regardless of marital status and support sex education in schools, as well as the right of girls to continue their education if they become pregnant<\/p>\n

A quarter of Malians report that women in their community \u201coccasionally\u201d or \u201coften\u201d terminate their pregnancies. A majority consider abortion justified when the pregnancy<\/a> endangers the woman\u2019s health, but not when it resulted from rape or incest, for economic reasons, or when the pregnancy is unwanted, regardless of the reason<\/p>\n

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\nOrganisation
\nGroupe de Recherche en \u00c9conomie Appliqu\u00e9e et Th\u00e9orique
\nInnovante Recherche en Economie et Gouvernance (IREG)
\nLanguage
\nEnglish
\nTopics
\nHealth, education, and social services
\nKeywords
\nReproductive health
\nCountries
\nMali
\nRegions
\nFrancophone Africa<\/p>\n

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Sexual and reproductive rights encompass the rights enabling every person to access sexual and reproductive health services, receive appropriate sexuality education, maintain bodily integrity, choose their sexual partners, exercise autonomy regarding marriage on the basis of equality between spouses, lead a safe and satisfying sexual life, and freely choose their sexuality, sexual orientation, and gender…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6443,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[1500,1502,1501,561,337],"class_list":["post-6439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pregnancy","tag-ad1229","tag-autonomy","tag-malians","tag-support","tag-womens"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6439"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6439\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6442,"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6439\/revisions\/6442"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}