As a young woman, Ms. Konolbé Yvette Ouedraogo dreamed of becoming a teacher, but motivated by her father’s influence and driven by her desire to make a difference in her community, she became a nurse.
The reality of Burkina Faso’s understaffed health system meant that in her first job she had to double as a midwife. “I fell so in love with seeing smiles on the mother’s faces that I just decided to commit to it. In my work, every hour was a working hour, but for me that didn’t matter. I wanted to give them the best of me,” she says.
Witnessing the low rate of assisted births and perinatal counselling services, Ms. Ouedraogo acted. She proposed an innovative plan to deliver quality care by introducing advanced antenatal and postnatal services. Over four years, she successfully improved maternal outcomes, raising the benefits of assisted delivery, and reducing home births from 80% to 20%. She also provided reproductive health services in community health huts.
Ms. Ouedraogo spent 17 years working for the Ministry of Health in Burkina Faso. Her expertise and dedication caught the attention of prominent global health organizations, leading to a further nine years as a humanitarian worker with Medicus Mundi Sur, Terre des Hommes, Plan International, UNFPA and WHO.
As Ms Ouedraogo was promoted into coordinator roles, she missed the direct impact and connection with women she had experienced as a clinician. To compensate and stay connected, Ms. Ouedraogo worked night shifts at the hospital.
“For me it is all about the women. I am extremely sensitive to the needs of others, and this work is the best place to provide help to many people in need,” she says.
Over time, Ms. Ouedraogo has taken on the role of an advocate, mentor, and trainer for other midwives. She has integrated gendered perspectives into her work, recognizing the interconnectedness of health and gender equality. She is a strong advocate for sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR), given her determination to enable women to take charge of their own bodies.
She has designed and developed training initiatives on Gender and Sexual and Reproductive Health, delivering them to over 400 healthcare workers in the northern region of Burkina Faso. She co-authored a didactic guide on gender and reproductive health and provided related training to 50 teachers. She has coordinated the development of survivor management protocols for gender-based violence across multiple sectors. Ms Ouedraogo has also improved administrative procedures, improving the quality of services delivered, for example increasing birth registration rates and collaborating on the design of an electronic register for maternity consultations.
After 26 years in the field, Ms. Ouedraogo has an urgent message: SRHR issues affect everyone, and she calls on policy makers to recognize the collective responsibility we share and invest more in sexual and reproductive care.
Today, Ms. Ouedraogo holds the position of Gender-Based Violence Regional Advisor for West and Central Africa with EngenderHealth, where her ongoing efforts continue to change the narrative and improve outcomes for women and girls on the African continent.
Ms. Ouedraogo has fulfilled her childhood dream by not only becoming a teacher and mentor to hundreds of health professionals, but also by becoming a role model to aspiring women leaders in her field.
